If you’re like most people, then you’ve probably heard the term “bail bond” used on TV or in the movies. Unfortunately, bail bond services are not limited to stories of entertainment only. Bail bonds are often needed in real life to help those who suddenly find themselves in trouble with the law. Don McKay is the owner of McKay Bail Bonds, a Rockville, Maryland business dedicated to helping those in need of such services, and according to him, bail bonds are more common than most people think.
What is a bail bond?
After a person is arrested for a crime, he is generally placed in a holding cell and then taken to face a judge for a procedure known as an arraignment. During an arraignment, the accused party is given an opportunity to enter a plea, which will often times be “not guilty,” regardless of the facts of the case. Following a “not guilty” plea, a court date must be set for trial to determine if the accused is telling the truth about his innocence. However, due to a number of circumstances, including court backlogs and limited resources on the part of the legal system, this type of court date will oftentimes be weeks, if not months away, from the date of the arraignment.
Since it’s not necessarily fair to force an accused person to spend weeks or months biding his time in a prison cell while waiting for trial (hence the concept of innocent until proven guilty), when the circumstances call for it, a judge can opt to release a defendant from custody until his court date arrives in exchange for a monetary fee, otherwise known as bail. The purpose of forcing a person to post bail is to motivate him to show up for his trial as mandated and not attempt to skip town. If a person pays his bail and then appears for trial like he’s supposed to, then his bail amount will be refunded. If he doesn’t show up, however, then he loses his money (and gets himself in even deeper trouble with the law).
In order to truly incentivize someone to appear in court and not just decide to forego the money at stake, a judge will usually impose a significant bail amount upon the person in question. Generally, the amount of bail that a person is required to post will be commensurate with the nature of the crime. A person who is charged with rape or kidnapping will most likely be forced to fork over a higher amount in exchange for his temporary release than a person accused of robbing an empty convenience store.
Either way, most bail amounts are set in a manner that makes them highly unaffordable to those forced to pay them. If a person charged with stealing $300 in cash and goods from a local shop is asked to post bail in the amount of $5,000, then he’s not very likely to have easy access to that amount of money. (If he did, then he wouldn’t have to go out and put his freedom at risk to rob a convenience store for a measly few hundred dollars.) This is where bail bonds come into play.
When a person cannot afford to pay his own bail amount, then he or a family member (usually the latter) will often have no choice but to contact a bail bondsman to arrange for a bail bond. Assuming the party in question qualifies for a bail bond, the bondsman will post a certain amount with the court to facilitate the defendant’s release and then charge the defendant (or, in most cases, the family member representing him) a percentage of the total bond amount – usually ten percent.
What are the benefits of bail bonds?
The primary reason why people opt for bail bonds is that they cannot afford to post bail on their own, and do not want to spend weeks or months in prison waiting for their trials. Since bail bonds can usually be obtained rather quickly (often within 24 hours), arranging for bail bonds is generally much faster than trying to find another source for a loan (such as going through a local bank or using home equity to obtain a line of credit). All a person needs to do is have a family member contact a bail bondsman, provide the necessary information, and submit a non-refundable fee that usually constitutes ten percent of the total bail amount. Once that happens, the bail bondsman will take care of the rest.
A bail bond can constitute a quick and easy solution to an otherwise messy situation. So if you ever find yourself in trouble with the law, rather than suffer in prison, have a family member contact a bail bondsman to arrange for your release.
