There are a lot of bail bond insurance
companies out there, but how exactly do they work? Let’s break it down.
First of all, bail is a sort of cash
incentive used to give a person who is going on trial, the defendant, a
temporary release from jail. Anyone can post bail for a person, including the
defendant. The money is returned regardless of whether the defendant is found
guilty or innocent so long as they make their appointed court dates. If they
skip town, or simply don’t show up for their trial, the bail is then used to
pay the courts for their time and to issue a warrant for your arrest.
Some people can’t afford bail so
they’ll contact a bail bondsman. The bail bond company puts up the defendant’s
bail for a small fee, generally 10% of the bail amount, and when the defendant
makes all of their court dates, they get their bail back and keep the fee that
was paid to them. They also tend to make sure that the defendant makes all of
their court dates by getting family and friends involved in their release.
This is a great solution for people
who don’t have the money to cover huge bail amounts placed on defendants, but
can pay ten percent of the bail.
Bail bonds are backed by bail bond
insurance companies. They work with and through bail bondsmen to put up the
money for a defendant’s release and get a portion of the 10% premium that a
defendant pays to the bail bondsman so it’s in everyone’s best interest that
they keep an eye on the defendant and make sure they get to their scheduled
court dates. Getting their money back is dependent on the defendant showing up,
and of course, that doesn’t always happen.
If the defendant fails to show up for
court, the bail bondsman will then call a bounty hunter to track down the
now-fugitive in order to recoup the money lost, or may have one in-house that
they can send. Some states make it illegal for a bail bond company to use
bounty hunters so the bondsman has to go themselves to pick up the fugitive.
Every state’s bail and bail bond
guidelines are different. Some states, like Oregon, Wisconsin, Illinois, and
Kentucky, don’t allow commercial bail bonds and others have regulations on the
fees and premiums a defendant can pay to a bail bond insurance company. Bail
bonds are relatively unheard of outside of the U.S. due to lower bonds, and
bounty hunters are illegal in many countries.
