Before being proven of guilt or innocence, a person under suspicion must stay under arrest until the day of the trial. The law, however, grants those accused of crimes with temporary freedom if they are able to post a determined amount of bail, given that they show up whenever the court calls for them.
Under the law, the price is dictated by a judge or an arresting officer during first contact with someone arrested under the suspicion of committing a crime. In most states, however, the bail bond is typically set at 10% of the bail amount.
People who are not privileged enough to post bail almost always stay behind bars and have lesser chances of being able to stay in the comfort of the outside world. This is one unfortunate problem that remains rampant with today’s justice system.
This is where bail bonds come in. Bail bonds are monetary equivalents of a person’s temporary freedom. Through an Orange County bail bond company, the underprivileged may gain temporary freedom by posting bail.
Incarceration by the Numbers
There are an estimated three-quarters of a million inmates in American prisons awaiting their time in court for their trials. The waiting period for their cases to be heard in a court of law can last up to almost a year. These prisoners are locked out and away from society without any conviction of any form of crime at all.
This is a form of civil service because pretrial imprisonment makes the poor choose only between jail or bail, and without money, bail is out of the equation. This injustice is why bail bond practices can be seen as humanitarian, as they bring back freedom to those who may have been wrongfully detained.
Working the Bail Bond Process
While most would see bail bonds as leaning only towards those who have money or something valuable, that is not actually always the case. For one, the Federal Bail Reform Act of 1984 requires the arraigning court to ensure that bail amount is not set so high that it would result in pretrial detention. That said, this would mean that the courts take into consideration not only the case on hand but the economic standing of the defendant.
There are also a number of bail bond companies that have flexible payment terms for their clients. This is aside from private bail bond companies that focus more on helping clients who might not have the money for the bond.
