Was watching the tv program Sunday Morning yesterday AM and they had a thing on it about Bail Bonds. There are folks that get arrested that can't afford to pay Bail. They have to sit in jail for days, and sometimes weeks. Many are cleared of their offence by a Judge, but still have to wait in jail for the charges to be dropped by a Judge. One legal person wants to shut down Bail Bond companies, stating they make a lot of money and charge more than they should for Bail. "This is unfair treatment to those that can't afford a high Bail amount", the legal person said. One owner of a Bail Bond company states that shutting her, and all others, down would put many people out of a job. And, apparently, there are Judges out there that will set Bail at an enormous amount to where the Offender can't pay it and has to sit in jail until the next court date. What do you think?
I think that the bail amount depends on not only what crime the person is charged with, but also , how likely that person is to show back up in court for the actual trial. The accused person can either stay in jail until the case goes to court, or he can pay money to be out of jail until he goes to court, and the more money he has invested, the more likely he is not to skip out on the charges and not go back to court when he is supposed to. Since many people do not have the cash for the bond, then they basically are borrowing the money from the lender, which is the bail bondsman, who is then guaranteeing his money that the accused person will show up in court. If they don’t go to court, the bail bondsman loses that money to the court, and it is up to him to find the accused person, and get his money back. So, if the bondsman thinks that the person is too much of a risk, he is not going to want to bail the guy out of jail either, and then the person is going to have to remain in jail until his court date. I do not see that a bail bondsman is much different than one of those Pay Day Loan places. They both charge high rates, and deal with high risk clients, and often ones that do not have much resources that can be attached if they do not comply with the requirements of the loan. A person that is not considered likely to skip out of the court proceedings is going to get a much smaller bail bond amount, most likely, or even be released on OR (own recognizance), and not have to post bail at all.
I just sort of wonder why this topic was on Sunday Morning. Then again, that show does, at times, have some pretty controversial topics. Interesting, but controversial.