What You Need to Know About Bail Bonds

If you or a loved one have ever been arrested you know how stressful the situation can become. Once you are arrested and placed into the criminal justice system, it is kind of like being on a roller coaster ride. You are locked into a roller coaster car and you can’t exit the car until the ride is over and it is one heck of a ride. Unlike a roller coaster ride however, an arrest and the ensuing hearings and trial that are a part of the process, are not quick and they are definitely not fun.

Once you are arrested and processed or booked into jail you likely won’t see a judge for your preliminary hearing for twenty four hours. And that’s business day hours. If you get arrested on a Friday night you will be in jail until your preliminary hearing on Monday with no chance for bail until your hearing. Once you get to your preliminary hearing you will be allowed to do two things that are important. First you are able to enter you plea into the record and second the judge will set bail. Obviously if you plead guilty, you very likely won’t be getting bail granted. Most defendants plead an automatic not guilty. This is not a trial and your lawyer won’t be arguing anything at this point but possible your bail amount.

Once bail is set you have two options available to you. You can either pay your own bail, providing you have some pretty large bank sitting around with easy access to it or you can hire a bail bondsman to make your bail for you.

Bail bonds are a way to financially guarantee your presence at your upcoming trial. A bail bondsman is usually a person or a corporation that will pay your bail and guarantee you will be at your trial. If you don’t show at your trial the bail bonds are forfeited to the court and you will have an arrest warrant issued for failure to appear.

In addition to having your bail and any future bail revoked if you don’t appear at your court hearing you will appear guilty and that can go along way to taint a trial even under the best of circumstances. Not to mention you will be hunted down by the bail bondsman so they can recoup some of their loss.

What your bail will be set at and how much bail bonds must be paid will depend on a wide variety of factors including what actual charges you face, your criminal record if any and whether or not you are considered a flight risk. If you are unemployed, a transient and have no ties to the community you may be considered a flight risk. If on the other hand you are employed, have family ties in the community and can show you are not a risk to run, your bail amount will likely be set lower.