Bail Bonds and the Economy
April 27, 2009
Lately, I’ve been asked many times, “Your business must thrive in this economy, right?” Or, “I bet bondsmen don’t worry about a bad economy; you must be thrilled.” We’ve even had people inquiring about a job because they think that bail bonds is a recession-proof industry.
I know most people have never had first hand experience with bail bonds. Apparently, the common school of thought is that crime goes up in an economic down-turn.
Last December, I took a call from Tony Castro at the Los Angeles Daily News. He asked several questions about the economy and bail bonds. Mr. Castro subsequently wrote an article about Van Nuys bail bondsmen “bailing out”. I spoke with Mr. Castro a fair amount of time and even though he quoted me on a couple of points, there were several issues I discussed that were left out. Since then, I keep feeling there’s so much more to be said. So, today I’ve written a follow-up article about bail, crime and the economy. In this article, I’ve attempted to answer:
- Is the bail industry recession-proof?
- As the economy sinks, is crime rising?
- Are foreclosures and layoffs driving people to a life of crime?
- How bad is it?
- Is it getting better?
Photocredit: © Norman Chan- Fotolia.com
April 30th, 2009 at 8:54 am
Very good article…Even though Las Vegas has much lower automatic bail amounts than CA, we are definitely still seeing a huge increase in folks needed “payment plans” for the premium amount. Many are cash-strapped and lack adequate collateral too. You’re right, bail bonds are an expense that some folks just can’t afford right now. It’s really sad.