Unless you’ve been through the criminal court system, you may believe “bail” and “bail bonds” are the same thing. While both are vital to the proper functioning of our legal system, they serve two different purposes.
When someone is arrested, they may be eligible for bail. Bail is set during a bail hearing by a judge or justice of the peace. Bail is money paid to the court to secure a defendant’s release. Once bail is posted, the defendant is freed from jail but is still obligated to appear at all scheduled court appointments. If they fail to do so, the bail money may be kept by the court. Once the criminal proceedings are finished and regardless of outcome, if the defendant has appeared before the court as ordered the bail money will be returned. The bail money merely acts an incentive and collateral to ensure the accused appear as ordered by the court.
In the event that a defendant is unable or unwilling to provide the full bail amount to the court, a bail bondsman may be used to post the bail on their behalf. However, bail bondsmen do not put forth the entire amount of bail. They post a bail bond to the court. The bail bond is smaller amount of money that acts as a promise or surety bond. In the event the defendant does not appear, the bail bondsman may have to produce the full bail amount to the court.
Bail serves two purposes. It gives a defendant time to properly execute their defense preparation, free from the limitations of jail. Most importantly, it enables innocent people from being held in jail while they go through the trial process.
The judicial system is built upon the idea that everyone is innocent until proven guilty. Bail allows that presumption during criminal proceedings. Bail bondsmen do their part to keep the system operating by making bail available to people that might not otherwise have access to it.
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