Bail Bondsmen and the Courts
Bail Bondsmen are business people and their business is a unique one. A bondsmen is basically a government subcontractor. With bondsmen the state has a created a business operation within the criminal justice system. Bail Bondsmen do not represent the interests of the court or of the defendant. Bail Bondsmen make money by providing a form of insurance. For a non-refundable fee they post a bond with the court. If a defendant does not appear for trial than the bondsman is responsible for the full amount of the bond. As a result of the financial risk that they face, the bondsman is allowed to charge a fee which is usually 10 percent of the face amount of the bond.
Bail Bondsmen rarely post cash directly with the court. They usually purchase a surety bond from an insurance company which then charges 30 percent of the bondsman’s fee. This usually results in low profit margin so bondsmen need to find plenty of clients to use their services. They must also be mindful of only accepting clients who present a danger of avoiding court and fleeing.
There is a lot of competition between bail bondsmen to gain good clients. Bondsmen have several techniques they use in order of a steady amount of clients. Third parties are a frequent source of referrals. Defense attorneys sometimes refer a client to a bondsman expecting a future favor from the bondsman. Police officers, court clerks and bailiffs sometimes direct defendants towards a bail bondsman. These referrals are often made with an expectation that the person making the referral will be compensated for their effort.
Once a bondsman has made contact with a defendant they must decide whether to take them on as a client. First offenders are seen as a bad risk as a client because they are more likely to panic. Violent defendants are also considered bad risks because of the possibility that they may cause harm to the bondsman. Bondsman use employment history, family situations, and community status as ways of determining which clients are financially dependable. Bondsmen don’t accept just anyone as a client. They prefer to take clients with a low bail because there is less risk. Many bondsmen make a profit by posting bond for defendants accused of misdemeanors and occasionally a large bond.
Bail Bondsman require their clients to sign a contract waiving protection against extradition as condition of posting bail. The contract also allows the bondsman to retrieve the defendant from wherever they may have fled to. These powers exceed any held by law enforcement officials. A bondsman can retrieve a fugitive much more easily than the police can.
Many bail bondsmen are friendly with court personnel such as sheriffs, bailiffs and court clerks. Each of these officials can help and hurt a bondsman. Bondsmen often contribute financially to judge’s reelection campaigns. The relationships between bail bondsmen and the courts are mutual. There are many ways that bail bondsmen help out the courts. One way in which bondsmen help the courts is by helping to reduce the population of arrested people. Without bail bondsmen, the courts would be faced with very large jail population. Bail Bondsmen are the easiest way to fix the problem. Bondsmen also help prevent some defendants from being released. When court officials want to prevent a particular defendant from being released, the bondsman will usually help the officials by refusing to post a bond for the defendant.
Bail Bondsmen face major financial risks when their clients don’t show up to court and run. When this happens the entire amount of the bond will have to be made good. However, in many cases the bonds regularly go uncollected. Courts sometimes allow a grace period before bonds are forfeited, to encourage bondsmen to seek out their clients who have fled. In many cities, bondsmen will not have to pay a bond forfeiture if they can convince the judge that they have made every effort to find their client. The relationship between bondsmen and the courts is a very important one. It helps make bail a more effective process.
Bail Enforcement Agents are very important to a Bail Bondsman. They are also called bounty hunters and skip tracers. They are usually hired by a Bail Bondsman to go and track down clients who have jumped bail. They are not required to have a warrant to search property where they believe the subject is hiding. They can use any means necessary to in order to find the client including breaking and entering. There are some cases where bail enforcement agents overstep their boundaries. There have been cases where a bail enforcement agent has entered a house and shot a person who they thought was the client who had jumped bail only to find out later that they had shot the wrong person. This is part of the reason why the bail bonding process is surrounded by so much controversy.
Bail Bondsmen have had their share of controversy. Many judicial reformers believe that they are parasites who prey on human misery. A key objective of many reformers is to eliminate bail bonding for profit all together. So far five states have eliminated bail bonding for profit. These states are Kentucky, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Oregon and Illinois. Published material about bail bondsmen has been very biased because it has been mostly reform-oriented. Grand jury investigations and journalism reports have portrayed bondsmen as corrupters of the courthouses.
Despite all the controversy and negative views on bondsmen by judicial reformers, bail bondsmen play a very significant role in the court system. Without them the bail system wouldn’t be as effective as it currently is. Many more accused people would be sitting in jail awaiting trial because they weren’t able to pay their bonds. Bondsmen also play an important role in the court system. They can help prevent defendants being released on bail by refusing to post a bond with court for them. They keep the jail population of arrested people under control. Many people in the court system overlook the importance of bail bondsmen. They see them as businessmen who only care about themselves. But, in addition to helping themselves they help accused people make bail and they give opportunities to people who to get out on bail who wouldn’t normally get out on bail. If bail bondsmen weren’t around, the bail system wouldn’t be what it is today.
