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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Is this r/explainlikeimfive or is this r/iamfive?
Is this r/explainlikeimfive or is this r/iamfive?
Side note on bail v bond.
Bail is the TOTAL amount, as set by a judge, which will be forfeited to the court if the defendant fails to appear for trial.
Bond is 10 percent of the above.
THEREFORE, in order for bond to be ‘set’ at $1 million, for example, bail would have to have been set at $10 million.
Edit: hit wrong button.
Not every US state has bail bondsmen. Illinois does not allow bail bondsmen. You need bond to get out? Figure it out but you won’t got to a bond company for the $.
You skip out while on bail, you get a warrant for your arrest and when you do show up/are rearrested, you’ll forfeit the original bond, may end up in jail until the trial or have to pay a new higher bail/bond to get out.
Now of course Illinois is trying to end cash bail for low level offenders. As a few have pointed out, even $500 bond can be impossible for some detainees.
But yes for someone accused of murder, a $5 million bail would need $500,000 cash to get out pending trial. Most people can’t come up with that.
If they do, a judge can also order electronic home monitoring (ankle bracelet) and for the accused to surrender their passport.
Other bail provisions can include thing like no consumption of alcohol, no contact with the victim/family, no contact with underage children ….
Side note on bail v bond.
Bail is the TOTAL amount, as set by a judge, which will be forfeited to the court if the defendant fails to appear for trial.
Bond is 10 percent of the above.
THEREFORE, in order for bond to be ‘set’ at $1 million, for example, bail would have to have been set at $10 million.
Edit: hit wrong button.
Not every US state has bail bondsmen. Illinois does not allow bail bondsmen. You need bond to get out? Figure it out but you won’t got to a bond company for the $.
You skip out while on bail, you get a warrant for your arrest and when you do show up/are rearrested, you’ll forfeit the original bond, may end up in jail until the trial or have to pay a new higher bail/bond to get out.
Now of course Illinois is trying to end cash bail for low level offenders. As a few have pointed out, even $500 bond can be impossible for some detainees.
But yes for someone accused of murder, a $5 million bail would need $500,000 cash to get out pending trial. Most people can’t come up with that.
If they do, a judge can also order electronic home monitoring (ankle bracelet) and for the accused to surrender their passport.
Other bail provisions can include thing like no consumption of alcohol, no contact with the victim/family, no contact with underage children ….
Bail is like a collateral you put down as a promise to not leave town before your trial is done. If you leave town to avoid court, you don’t get it back. If you stay put, you do.
Bail amounts are higher when what you are accused of is really bad, or when you’re rich enough you wouldn’t miss the usual bail amount.
Bail is like a collateral you put down as a promise to not leave town before your trial is done. If you leave town to avoid court, you don’t get it back. If you stay put, you do.
Bail amounts are higher when what you are accused of is really bad, or when you’re rich enough you wouldn’t miss the usual bail amount.
The idea of bail is that if you flee the city, state, don’t show up as assigned, etcetera, you forfeit the bail amount. The assumption is that the risk of losing that money will keep you from leaving. That’s why bail amounts tend to rise with the severity of the crime (and the possible punishment). And if a crime is especially severe, or the accused has demonstrated themselves as likely to skip town (a “flight risk”), they may be denied bail entirely.
On the other hand, there exists a thriving (for better or worse) industry of bail bondsman. Under this system, a bail bondsman pays the bail for you, and you agree to pay the bail bondsman (usually) 10% of the amount of the bond. Because bail is returned to the payer (in this case the bondsman) if you abide by conditions, if the bail bondsman pays your $50,000 bail and you show up to hearings etcetera, the bondsman makes $5,000.
On the other hand, if you flee or otherwise violate the conditions of bail, the bondsman often assumes the responsibility of arresting you, or hiring someone else to do so. Basically a bounty hunter.
Both the system of bail bondsmen/bounty hunting and the larger system of bond has come under more and more criticism. There are lots of examples of bounty hunters acting unlawfully or hurting innocent people (the practice of legal bounty hunting is almost exclusive to the US today). Studies have pointed out that judges seem to disproportionately set higher bails for minorities or deny them bail entirely. For poor people, not being able to pay bail basically means going to jail for as long as months and months without having been convicted of any crime.
Some states and cities have reduced or eliminated cash bail, replacing it with a system where check-ins and voluntary monitoring are used to ensure a person show up to the various parts of a case. It’s been successful in many cases, and it kind of makes sense. After all, if someone skips bail and flees under a cash bail system, its not like the government throws up their hands and says “he got us”. At that point the person is a fugitive and the government is obliged to find them. The odds that you can evade the government forever is pretty damn low, and probably enough to keep most people from fleeing without the need for a large sum of money.
The idea of bail is that if you flee the city, state, don’t show up as assigned, etcetera, you forfeit the bail amount. The assumption is that the risk of losing that money will keep you from leaving. That’s why bail amounts tend to rise with the severity of the crime (and the possible punishment). And if a crime is especially severe, or the accused has demonstrated themselves as likely to skip town (a “flight risk”), they may be denied bail entirely.
On the other hand, there exists a thriving (for better or worse) industry of bail bondsman. Under this system, a bail bondsman pays the bail for you, and you agree to pay the bail bondsman (usually) 10% of the amount of the bond. Because bail is returned to the payer (in this case the bondsman) if you abide by conditions, if the bail bondsman pays your $50,000 bail and you show up to hearings etcetera, the bondsman makes $5,000.
On the other hand, if you flee or otherwise violate the conditions of bail, the bondsman often assumes the responsibility of arresting you, or hiring someone else to do so. Basically a bounty hunter.
Both the system of bail bondsmen/bounty hunting and the larger system of bond has come under more and more criticism. There are lots of examples of bounty hunters acting unlawfully or hurting innocent people (the practice of legal bounty hunting is almost exclusive to the US today). Studies have pointed out that judges seem to disproportionately set higher bails for minorities or deny them bail entirely. For poor people, not being able to pay bail basically means going to jail for as long as months and months without having been convicted of any crime.
Some states and cities have reduced or eliminated cash bail, replacing it with a system where check-ins and voluntary monitoring are used to ensure a person show up to the various parts of a case. It’s been successful in many cases, and it kind of makes sense. After all, if someone skips bail and flees under a cash bail system, its not like the government throws up their hands and says “he got us”. At that point the person is a fugitive and the government is obliged to find them. The odds that you can evade the government forever is pretty damn low, and probably enough to keep most people from fleeing without the need for a large sum of money.
Ansewer: Bail is collateral in exchange for being released pending the trial to encourage the person to show up. At which point its returned to whoever paid it. If the person doesn’t show up the money is forfeited to the court, and an arrest warrant is issued.
In practice bail is often set too high for people to realistically afford so many people either stay in jail, for in some instances years, pending the trial or use bail bonds, which is basically where the bond company pays your bail in exchange for a fee that’s usually a small portion of the total bail. So if bail was set at $100k, a bond company might charge you $10k, pay your bail then when you show up to court they get their $100k back and also keep your $10k as profit.
Ansewer: Bail is collateral in exchange for being released pending the trial to encourage the person to show up. At which point its returned to whoever paid it. If the person doesn’t show up the money is forfeited to the court, and an arrest warrant is issued.
In practice bail is often set too high for people to realistically afford so many people either stay in jail, for in some instances years, pending the trial or use bail bonds, which is basically where the bond company pays your bail in exchange for a fee that’s usually a small portion of the total bail. So if bail was set at $100k, a bond company might charge you $10k, pay your bail then when you show up to court they get their $100k back and also keep your $10k as profit.
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