How Bail Works

What are bail bonds? – Crimes and Booking

To know more about how bail bonds work, you first need to know a bit more about what happens when a person is arrested.  At the moment that a person is considered a crime suspect, they are arrested and they are either taken to the police station or jail, so they can be booked. It is during the booking period, when the authorities decide whether that person can be released on bail or not.  If they are not eligible for bail, it usually means that they are a suspect in a very serious crime, they have a criminal record or the authorities believe that the person will flee and not attend their court hearings.

Some of the cases involving U.S citizens, allow the person who is being booked, to pay a certain amount of money to the court, so they can leave on bail.  Most of the time, the court allows people to leave on bail, if they are suspects in either a misdemeanor or felony. The following are some examples of crimes that usually make bail:

1. Domestic violence
2. Breaking and entering
3. Stealing cars
4. Threats of criminal activities
5. Driving under the influence (DUI)
6. Burglary/Robbery
7. Physically abusing of others
8. Assault and battery
9. Grand theft
10. Selling illegal drugs or being found in possession of

Bail is basically an insurance or guarantee that the accused person will be attending their court hearings and trials or lose some large sums of money and assets.  Judges have the power to set bail and these can be appealed by the accused.  The judge also has the power to lower or raise bail, after the suspect has made an appeal.  To learn more about how does bail work, keep reading and learn more about the booking process. 

The Booking Process & Bail

After a person has been arrested, they are taken to some form of police station, which could be either a city jail, a detention facility or a cell in county jail.  After the person arrives at the facility, they are “booked”, which is a process of identification and reporting.  Booking, is necessary, so that authorities can fully understand what happened, create a report and process the suspect appropriately.  The booking process includes, researching if the suspect has a prior criminal record and recording the current case in the suspect’s permanent files. 

Authorities usually follow this procedure during booking:

Identify the suspect – This involves taking the suspect’s full name, birth date, address, phone number and their physical characteristics.

Withdraw suspect from any property – All of the suspect’s personal property, will be taken by authorities and stored in a secure place by them.  These items will then be returned to the suspect, when they are released. 

Suspect is searched – Authorities will search the suspect, for any hidden items or weapons.

Record suspect’s testimonial – The authorities will record a conversation with the suspect and collect as much information as possible, as to what happened and the suspect’s point of view. 

Authorities will then proceed to take fingerprints and pictures (mug shots) of the suspect and search for any prior criminal records. 

The suspect may then be held in custody, until a bail hearing takes place  This will depend on how severe or serious the suspect’s alleged crime is.  A bail hearing, is not a trial. This is only a preliminary hearing, where the judge can decide if the suspect can leave custody on bail or not.

When the crime is considered to be a minor crime, the defendant has no prior criminal records, has not been associated with any gangs or is considered to be a respectful citizen of the community, the judge will usually set bail and the suspect may be released after paying the set amount, getting a written citation and promising to attend court at a certain date. 

When a suspect is required to attend a bail hearing, they must remain in custody, inside a holding facility, until the bail hearing takes place.  Booking processes vary in time, depending on the authorities and the facility that the suspect is at.  Sometimes, this process can take up to 24 hours or more. 

After a bail has been set by the judge, it usually takes between 15 minutes to 10 hours, to get the person released from a city or municipal jail and 2 to 24 hours, from a county jail. 

This should answer your how does bail work question and if you have any more doubts about what is a bail bond, you can always give us a call right away.