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A bail bondsman is any person or corporation which will put up monetary security as bail for the appearance of a criminal defendant in court in a form that is acceptable to the court. Although banks and other financial institutions are capable of posting a security bond in normal circumstances (for example, to secure a contractor who is under a contractual obligation to pay for the completion of a construction project), a bail bondsman is set up exclusively to post bail bonds for criminal defendants, often in just a few hours.
Bail bondsmen are almost exclusively found in the United States, as in most other countries bail is usually more modest, and the practice of bounty hunting is illegal.
Bondsmen usually have a standing security agreement with local court officials, in where they can agree to post an irrevocable bond to pay the court if a defendant does not appear. The bondsman usually has an arrangement with a bank or another credit provider to draw on such security, even during hours when the bank is not operating.
Bondsmen generally charge a fee of 10% of the total amount of the bail required in order to post a bond for the amount. This fee is not refundable and represents the Bondsman's source of income. As the practice of posting a 10% payment in cash for a bond became widespread, courts have recently begun the habit of accepting 10% of the bond amount in cash, for example, by requiring a $10,000 bond or $1,000 in cash.
For large bail amounts, bondsmen can generally obtain security against the assets of the defendant or persons willing to assist the defendant. For example, for a $100,000 bond for a person who owns a home, the bondsman would charge $10,000 and take a mortgage against the house.
If the defendant fails to appear in court, the bondman is allowed by contractual arrangement to bring the defendant to the jurisdiction of the court in order to recover the money paid out under the bond, usually through the use of a bounty hunter. The bondsman is also allowed to sue the defendant for any money that cannot be recovered should the defendant fail to appear.
In most jurisdictions, bondsmen have to be licensed to carry on business within the state. Several unusual organizations often provide bail bonds. For example, AAA (formerly the American Automobile Association) offers a bail bond service to its members who are jailed for ordinary traffic offences to prevent law enforcement officials from threatening lengthy remand periods before trial if the alleged offender does not plead guilty at arraignment.
Four states—Illinois, Kentucky, Oregon, and Wisconsin—have completely banned commercial bail bonding. However, some of these states specifically allow AAA and similar organizations to continue providing bail bond services pursuant to insurance contracts or membership agreements.
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