Have you heard of bail bonds? How does it work? When an individual is arrested and charged with a crime, the court may release the person on bail cash, or bond. This allows the accused to remain at liberty until the trial date, assuming the accused meets certain conditions.
If you are released on bail, you must attend all court proceedings and obey all court conditions. In case you breach any of these conditions, you may be arrested and taken back into custody.
In case the accused is detained in custody pending the trial, one will typically be held at a correctional facility. You may be able to attend some court proceedings, but you will not be able to leave the facility. If you are convicted of a crime, you may be sentenced to prison time or other penalties.
The decision to release or detain an individual on bail custody depends on several factors, including the seriousness of the charge and the risk that the accused will flee or commit another crime. The court will also consider whether the accused can afford to pay bail. There are several emergency bail bonds agents to consider in the scenario that the accused cannot afford the bail.
All in all, it is vital to understand the bail process adequately, including knowing the bail conditions for common assault cases, among other common offenses that may land you or your loved ones in police custody.
UPDATED 1/29/21
If you’re arrested, you’ll likely be given the opportunity to pay bail in order to get out of jail and resume your life until the trial. However, not everybody has bail money on hand. If this is the case for you, you’ll need to look into bail bonds. If you’ve never been arrested before, you might need help with bail bond money. Basically, a bail bondsman will put up the money for you to get out of jail. Once you’re granted bail, pay it, and then return to court, you pay the bail bonds back with interest. However, you’ll need to make sure you know everything you need to before agreeing to a bail bond. You need to know the different types of bonds jail might require. Or do bail bonds get refunded? Your lawyer or a bail bondsman can help you answer these questions, but you’ll want to talk to them as soon as you realize you need bail money. Otherwise, you might end up in deeper trouble without realizing it and owe more money to more people on top of your legal issues.
If you or someone close to you got arrested, would you know what to do? Despite the common misconception that only seedy people and career criminals end up in jail, the reality is that anyone can get arrested. Even hardworking, honest people can end up on the wrong side of the law, and it doesn’t take committing an egregious crime to get in legal trouble — being charged with a misdemeanor can be enough to land someone in jail.
Luckily, the bail system ensures that most people won’t have to stay there while awaiting trial.
Why is bail so important?
Being held in jail while awaiting trial can have disastrous repercussions on a person’s job, responsibilities, family life, and even mental health. The bail system allows defendants, who are presumed innocent until proven guilty here in the United States, to continue working and carrying out their normal activities until their trial. Bail bonds ?- which can take the form of any collateral, but are usually money ?- are paid to the court as a guarantee that the defendant will show up on a specified date for their trial.
If you are arrested for a noncapital offense, you have a legal right to be released on bail while awaiting trial. In addition, to make sure that the bail system is fair to poor and disadvantaged defendants, the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States provides that courts cannot require excessive bail. Despite this provision, sometimes the amount of bail set is more than the average person can afford to pay. In fact, this is almost always the case. In a situation like this, a bail bondsman can help you post the required amount of bail.
A bail bondsman helps people get out of jail when they can’t afford to pay the full amount of bail themselves. The bail bond company charges a fee ?- usually 10% of the total cost — to post bail for the defendant. This fee is non-refundable, regardless of the end result of the case. However, it helps people get out of jail for a fraction of the total cost of bail.
Think You’ll Never Have To Make Bail? Think Again…
The idea that you might ever have to hire a bail bondsman might seem far-fetched, but it’s not as unlikely as you might think. Career criminals and troublemakers aren’t the only people who get arrested; it’s possible for anyone to need a bail bond service at some point in their life. And, don’t forget, often families must post bail for wayward siblings, cousins, children, or even parents.
According to a study published in Pediatrics in 2011, one in three people will be arrested by the time they turn 23. Over the course of a lifetime, the odds go up even more, especially for men. About 52% of American men are arrested at least once. Most of these people aren’t wealthy, and it’s often a struggle for ordinary people to post bail, even with assistance from family. That’s where a bail bond service can help.
The use of financial bail is on the rise, too, making bail bond agency services even more widely sought after. According to the most recent bail statistics available from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, between 1990 and 2006, there was a 30% increase in the number of people who need money for bail as opposed to other kinds of collateral, such as a house or a car. To satisfy the increasing national demand for bail bond services, the United States now has over 14,000 working bail agents.
If you or someone close to you is arrested, a bail bondsman can help you take advantage of your legal right to bail. Don’t let a high bail price prevent you from resuming your normal life as quickly as possible. With the right resources and support, legal problems don’t have to keep you from your family or your work.