What Happens After Bail Bonds Are Posted

A bail is set when someone is arrested for allegedly breaching the law (all criminals are innocent unless proven guilty). Bail is a prescribed amount of money set by the judge that when paid, ensures that before their pretrial court date, the defendant will be released back into society.Do you want to learn more? see post

Although the 8th Amendment forbids an arbitrary bail amount, the actual amount of the bail can vary between persons who are convicted of the same crime. At a bail hearing, after taking into account many factors about each particular defendant, the judge sets the amount.

It will depend on the sum of the bail set:

The criminal background of the suspect and whether this is their first run-in with the law or not

The incentive (likelihood) for the perpetrator to miss the town or even the country

The risk that the perpetrator is a threat to himself the general public or his family

Their career experience

And of course, the existence and gravity of the crime that they are accused of.

In certain cases the judge would not set a bail and the suspect must remain in prison until the court date, such as when a felony is revealed by the death penalty.

They have two options if the price of bail is higher than what the suspect can afford to pay: call a bail bondman or stay in jail and wait until the trial. A bond agent pays and posts a bail bond for the suspect for a fee. The fee charged is normally 10 percent of whatever the total bail bonds are and that fee is paid to the bondman immediately.

So if the bail is $5,000, the bond agent gets $500 and then promises the remainder of the money to the court on your behalf if you fail to turn up or escape on your court date. Since the bail bondman takes a huge financial risk of agreeing to be held responsible for the sum you may owe the court, if you chose not to turn up for court, the bondman may require some form of collateral (the mortgage on your home, the title to your motor vehicle, a valuable piece of jewellery, etc to cover the cost of the bond.