What is a property bond or commercial bond? In cases in which the bail amount if extremely high, a defendant can use a home, car, or other property as collateral to secure the bail. If the defendant doesn't show up as required, the court seizes the property.
Bounty hunters and skip tracers work to find those who have skipped bail (failed to return for a court appearance) and bring them back to the court.
Putting up a bail bond does more than just let a defendant walk freely until his or her trial. It also helps save taxpayers money by reducing the number of people in overcrowded jails. When you add it up, bail bondsmen help save millions of dollars every year.
When bail is denied in a serious case, or set at a very high amount, the defendant has the right to request a bond reduction hearing. One of the main issues involved is whether the defendant is a flight risk. It isn't unusual for a defendant to be ordered to turn over his or her passport to qualify for bail.
If you are arrested for theft, for example, and bond is set at $15,000, that does not mean you have to come up with the entire amount to be released from jail. Instead, the common practice is for clients to pay 10 percent to 15 percent of the bond amount to the bail bond agent.
Without the option for bail bonds, jails would be even more overcrowded, the costs of housing inmates would increase, and the lives of both defendants and their families would be disrupted severely.