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Also bail bondsman. They provide the bail bond for people who can't afford to pay (which surprise is the majority of people). For a % of course. It's all a

Also bail bondsman. They provide the bail bond for people who can't afford to pay (which surprise is the majority of people). For a % of course. It's all a bit...predatory.

noodlesUK 3y ago
I think this is the part of the system that I find the most distasteful. If you're charged with a crime, you do everything right, you get bailed, you get found not guilty or the charges are dropped, you don't get the money you paid the bondsman back. It's horrifying.
- plagiarist 3y ago
  And for Americans living paycheck to paycheck they don't have the option to wait it out. They have to get back to work or be homeless.
- ddingus 3y ago
  What one can do is pay for their own representation and when acquitted, file a tort to recover financial damages from the entity who picked the fight. That is what I did when I faced this scenario. Takes a long time. Speedy trials suddenly slow down. Pressure to get a person on more charges goes up. Offers get better. Requests for court appearances increase in frequency and more.
- bombcar 3y ago
  Wait until you find out anyone could get pissed at you and start filing pro se lawsuits, forcing you to defend. And if they’re judgement proof there’s nothing you can effectively do.
eschulz 3y ago
Illinois, and several other states, do not allow bail bondsmen. I understand why people would want to prevent this predatory business, but then there's also the concern that a larger percentage of felony defendants fail to appear in court after being released on bond.
OkayPhysicist 3y ago
The bail bond industry should be illegal. Its existence alone is a compelling argument against cash bail. The theory of bail is that someone who is to trap the charged individually financially, by locking up as much of their liquid assets as possible behind a promise to actually show up to court. If people are needing to take out loans to pay bail, the bail was set too high. If the accused doesn't have enough assets to meaningfully pin them down with bail, cash bail is inappropriate. In a system that was effectively setting cash bail, the only scenario where someone would take a loan out would be to cover unexpected expenses between arrest and trial. But that's not how bail is applied in the US. Cash bail is set absurdly high, because the prosecution knows that the individual is going to get a bail bond, and thus the 10% needs to be a significant hit, and the remaining 90% needs to be enough to convince a bounty hunter to chase someone down.

Also bail bondsman. They provide the bail bond for people who can't afford to pay (which surprise is the majority of people). For a % of course. It's all a bit...predatory.

noodlesUK 3y ago

I think this is the part of the system that I find the most distasteful. If you're charged with a crime, you do everything right, you get bailed, you get found not guilty or the charges are dropped, you don't get the money you paid the bondsman back. It's horrifying.

plagiarist 3y ago
And for Americans living paycheck to paycheck they don't have the option to wait it out. They have to get back to work or be homeless.
ddingus 3y ago
What one can do is pay for their own representation and when acquitted, file a tort to recover financial damages from the entity who picked the fight. That is what I did when I faced this scenario. Takes a long time. Speedy trials suddenly slow down. Pressure to get a person on more charges goes up. Offers get better. Requests for court appearances increase in frequency and more.
bombcar 3y ago
Wait until you find out anyone could get pissed at you and start filing pro se lawsuits, forcing you to defend. And if they’re judgement proof there’s nothing you can effectively do.

eschulz 3y ago

Illinois, and several other states, do not allow bail bondsmen. I understand why people would want to prevent this predatory business, but then there's also the concern that a larger percentage of felony defendants fail to appear in court after being released on bond.

OkayPhysicist 3y ago

The bail bond industry should be illegal. Its existence alone is a compelling argument against cash bail. The theory of bail is that someone who is to trap the charged individually financially, by locking up as much of their liquid assets as possible behind a promise to actually show up to court. If people are needing to take out loans to pay bail, the bail was set too high. If the accused doesn't have enough assets to meaningfully pin them down with bail, cash bail is inappropriate. In a system that was effectively setting cash bail, the only scenario where someone would take a loan out would be to cover unexpected expenses between arrest and trial. But that's not how bail is applied in the US. Cash bail is set absurdly high, because the prosecution knows that the individual is going to get a bail bond, and thus the 10% needs to be a significant hit, and the remaining 90% needs to be enough to convince a bounty hunter to chase someone down.