So for example, a guy murders people, gets arrested and a bail is set for 5 million dollars. Does the guy walk off if the bail is paid? plz 🙂
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Bail is to allow the accused to not wait in prison until their trial. Bail is money paid by the accused to the court, promising to return to court for the trial. If Bail is not granted or the accused cannot afford it, the accused waits in prison until the trial determines guilt or innocence.
If the accused doesn’t show for trial, e.g. “skips bail”, the Bail is forfeited to the court and the accused does not get the money back. Typically warrants are issued and the Bail bondsman hires bounty hunters to capture the accused and return them to court for trial.
Bail is to allow the accused to not wait in prison until their trial. Bail is money paid by the accused to the court, promising to return to court for the trial. If Bail is not granted or the accused cannot afford it, the accused waits in prison until the trial determines guilt or innocence.
If the accused doesn’t show for trial, e.g. “skips bail”, the Bail is forfeited to the court and the accused does not get the money back. Typically warrants are issued and the Bail bondsman hires bounty hunters to capture the accused and return them to court for trial.
Strictly speaking, the money payed is not the “bail”. The bail is the accused person being allowed to leave the custody of the justice system because they promise to return for the trial.
In some places that have bail, one of the conditions of bail is a “bond”. The accused, or someone acting in their behalf, gives the court a bond payment, and that bond will only be returned if the accused shows up for trial, otherwise the bond is forfeit.
The problem with bond based bail is that it favours those with money. If you have money, you can pay the bond and go on with your life until the trial. If you are poor and living paycheck to paycheck, you will not be able to pay the bond so you will be stuck in jail, which means you will probably lose that job you were living paycheck to paycheck on. Even if you are found innocent at the trial, you’ve lost your job and been unable to find a new one for however long it took to set up and complete the trial, which probably has knock on effects like missing rent or loan payments which can lead to eviction of repossession of property. Preventing that sort of thing is one of the main points of having bail and yet the people most in need of that protection are least able to benefit from it.
This is why some places have bail that doesn’t involve a bond. The court looks at the situation and decides what conditions, if any, would be needed to make it likely that the accused will show up and if they were guilty that they wouldn’t be likely to commit further related crimes or tamper with the investigation. This could range from just promising to show up, to a complete denial of bail. This can have issues of its own where people who have little to lose from jumping bail and who are committing comparatively minor crimes that don’t justify denying them bail, become repeat offenders, continually committing the same crimes then skipping the trial.
Bail reform is one of those things that most people are indifferent to, and those who aren’t indifferent tend to be highly polarized.
Strictly speaking, the money payed is not the “bail”. The bail is the accused person being allowed to leave the custody of the justice system because they promise to return for the trial.
In some places that have bail, one of the conditions of bail is a “bond”. The accused, or someone acting in their behalf, gives the court a bond payment, and that bond will only be returned if the accused shows up for trial, otherwise the bond is forfeit.
The problem with bond based bail is that it favours those with money. If you have money, you can pay the bond and go on with your life until the trial. If you are poor and living paycheck to paycheck, you will not be able to pay the bond so you will be stuck in jail, which means you will probably lose that job you were living paycheck to paycheck on. Even if you are found innocent at the trial, you’ve lost your job and been unable to find a new one for however long it took to set up and complete the trial, which probably has knock on effects like missing rent or loan payments which can lead to eviction of repossession of property. Preventing that sort of thing is one of the main points of having bail and yet the people most in need of that protection are least able to benefit from it.
This is why some places have bail that doesn’t involve a bond. The court looks at the situation and decides what conditions, if any, would be needed to make it likely that the accused will show up and if they were guilty that they wouldn’t be likely to commit further related crimes or tamper with the investigation. This could range from just promising to show up, to a complete denial of bail. This can have issues of its own where people who have little to lose from jumping bail and who are committing comparatively minor crimes that don’t justify denying them bail, become repeat offenders, continually committing the same crimes then skipping the trial.
Bail reform is one of those things that most people are indifferent to, and those who aren’t indifferent tend to be highly polarized.
Dudette is dead
Police investigates
Police finds evidence
Police arrests Dude as a suspect of murder
Dude goes to a judge
Evidence is overwhelming: Dude stays in jail while awaiting trial.
Evidence is not overwhelming: Judge sets 5 million dollar bail. Dude posts bail. Dude walks out while awaiting trial.
Trial happens.
Dude appears in court: gets his 5 million back.
Dude doesn’t appear in court: 5 million are withheld, (international) warrant is issued.
Dudette is dead
Police investigates
Police finds evidence
Police arrests Dude as a suspect of murder
Dude goes to a judge
Evidence is overwhelming: Dude stays in jail while awaiting trial.
Evidence is not overwhelming: Judge sets 5 million dollar bail. Dude posts bail. Dude walks out while awaiting trial.
Trial happens.
Dude appears in court: gets his 5 million back.
Dude doesn’t appear in court: 5 million are withheld, (international) warrant is issued.
Bail is the temporary release of a person who is a **suspect** in an investigation into a crime (police bail), or an **accused** person awaiting trial (court bail).
Sometimes (~~nearly~~ always in USA) bail will be granted on condition that a sum of money is presented to guarantee the person coming to court.
**Bail is not always given** and you’re unlikely to be given bail if:
You are charged with a serious offense, such as attempted murder
You have been previously convicted of a serious crime
You have been given bail in the past and not stuck to the terms
They think that you will not turn up for your court hearing
They think you may commit a crime while on bail
Bail is mean to ensure that you show up in court.
For this reason bail is never granted to murderers or robbers or thieves, but only to people accused of being murders, robbers and thieves.
You are innocent until proven guilty and innocent people are normally allowed to walk around freely.
However there is als the fear that someone accused of a crime might not stick around until trial.
For this reason there has been the tradition that people give up something to show they have a reason to show up in court.
Nowadays that is usually money.
You give the court $10,000 to hold onto for you until trial and they give it back to you when you show up in court.
The giving the money back happens wether you are found guilty or not.
Bail is not supposed to be punishment but just a way to ensure that someone actually shows up in court.
In theory at least. in practice the way it works in the US can be quite different.
The people who ask for and determine the bail often are elected and don’t want an opponent they campaign against saying they are soft on crime. So they set up bail amounts that are far higher than anyone can actually pay.
In the US there is also a bail industry, where people who don’t have the money for bail ask a bondsmen to post the bail for them.
The bail bondsman won’t do this for free though. They will ask for a fee. that fee is usually about 10% of the total bail.
The critical part is that unlike paying the bail yourself, if you go though a bondsman you won’t get your money back when you show up for trial, even if you are found innocent.
The system is very broken and has moved very far away from its original purpose of ensuring that people show up in court to punishing people for being poor.
Either someone is a flight risk or a risk to the community or they aren’t putting up something they value like their savings or the deed to their home as collateral to ensure they show up is fine, but making them pay extra for being poor serves no purpose.
Bail is the temporary release of a person who is a **suspect** in an investigation into a crime (police bail), or an **accused** person awaiting trial (court bail).
Sometimes (~~nearly~~ always in USA) bail will be granted on condition that a sum of money is presented to guarantee the person coming to court.
**Bail is not always given** and you’re unlikely to be given bail if:
You are charged with a serious offense, such as attempted murder
You have been previously convicted of a serious crime
You have been given bail in the past and not stuck to the terms
They think that you will not turn up for your court hearing
They think you may commit a crime while on bail
Bail is mean to ensure that you show up in court.
For this reason bail is never granted to murderers or robbers or thieves, but only to people accused of being murders, robbers and thieves.
You are innocent until proven guilty and innocent people are normally allowed to walk around freely.
However there is als the fear that someone accused of a crime might not stick around until trial.
For this reason there has been the tradition that people give up something to show they have a reason to show up in court.
Nowadays that is usually money.
You give the court $10,000 to hold onto for you until trial and they give it back to you when you show up in court.
The giving the money back happens wether you are found guilty or not.
Bail is not supposed to be punishment but just a way to ensure that someone actually shows up in court.
In theory at least. in practice the way it works in the US can be quite different.
The people who ask for and determine the bail often are elected and don’t want an opponent they campaign against saying they are soft on crime. So they set up bail amounts that are far higher than anyone can actually pay.
In the US there is also a bail industry, where people who don’t have the money for bail ask a bondsmen to post the bail for them.
The bail bondsman won’t do this for free though. They will ask for a fee. that fee is usually about 10% of the total bail.
The critical part is that unlike paying the bail yourself, if you go though a bondsman you won’t get your money back when you show up for trial, even if you are found innocent.
The system is very broken and has moved very far away from its original purpose of ensuring that people show up in court to punishing people for being poor.
Either someone is a flight risk or a risk to the community or they aren’t putting up something they value like their savings or the deed to their home as collateral to ensure they show up is fine, but making them pay extra for being poor serves no purpose.
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