Keep Bailing

Pretrial Services Vs. Commercial Bail

Is anyone surprised that bail wins?  Would you be surprised to know that twice as many defendants on unsecured release failed to make their court date?  That is correct: commercial bail (releasing a defendant on bond with a friend and bondsman following up) outperforms pretrial services (releasing a defendant on a promise to appear or their “own recognizance” without a responsibile individual to track the defendant) two to one in getting persons to court.

For 22 years, the Federal Bureau of Justice Statistics has been indicating that bail wins, but recently the pretrial services advocates have been trying to make a case to change or eliminate the bail system as we know it. Bail bonds work because Read more »

What’s up with the Hills and DUI’s? Last October, we reported on the DUI arrest of Jason Whaler. In the same month, Stephanie Pratt also made headlines with her Van Nuys DUI arrest.

 Jason Wahler former realty star was reportedly arrested a sixth time for drunk driving by the Newport Beach Police Department, last Friday evening. The reality star was stopped and handcuffed by police around 11:00 p.m. on March 20, 2010, but he was released without bail on his own recognizance (“O.R.”) hours later. While an “O.R.” is Read more »

Some arrestees in Virginia, who can afford to pay their own bail, have been taking advantage of a taxpayer-funded get-out-of-jail-free card that has many in the Va. General Assembly fuming. But opponents say that folks who want to end this law are merely a front for bail bondsmen who seek to line their own pockets by doing so.

It’s called “Pretrial Services” and it allows defendants to be released before their court hearing without bail. Commercial bail bondsmen want to limit this. Bondsmen point out that release on “Own Recognizance” is only supposed to be used by defendants who can’t afford their own bail, but that inmates with means seems are being offered the service – at a cost to the tax payers. Tax dollars should not be used to bail out those who have the means to pay nor should the state compete with private business.

But pretrial services supporters feel someone’s ability to pay a bail amount shouldn’t be Read more »

Pre-trial Release is what some states call their “Own Recognizance” (OR) release program. Defendants are released without bail, without monitoring of a bondsman, without support of a friend or family member willing to help fulfill a promise to appear in court.

Proponents site savings in jail costs, but it’s a huge problem for public safety. Release on “OR” has a significant place in the legal system, but that place is not to relieve overcrowding.

Here’s a look at some of the problems. It’s five minutes, long by Internet standards. But, it’s a good five minute education.

Perhaps you heard the National Public Radio (NPR) series on bail. To say the least, they painted a skewed picture of bail bonds, bail bondsmen and “pre-trial release,” known in California as Release on Own Recognizance (OR).

This morning, I read a blog post correcting some of NPRs “facts”. Here’s an excerpt quoting Dennis Bartlett, of the American Bail Coalition:

“The NPR story is fallacious in that it gives the impression of a great mass of unfortunates stuck in jail, like some medieval black hole in Calcutta. This is far from the case. The cohort of 500,000 non-convicted defendants is not static. Over a year almost the entire cohort turns over by people coming into the system on new arrests and people exiting on bail, going back to freedom after case closure or getting on the Department of Corrections bus to head for the penitentiary after conviction.

Some will not get out on bail. Why? Some further facts Read more »

Edwin Sunmin Lee, 39, retired from the Los Angeles Police Department in April 2005 after he confessed to a felony charge for filing a false police report.  (Not sure how he got his bail license, because you’re supposed to have a clean record.)

Surprise! – now he is allegedly in trouble once more.  The Hacienda Heights area ex-cop-turned-bail-bondsman has plead not guilty to charges that he illegally solicited bail from inmates in local jails.  County District Attorney’s officials have accused Lee of no less than six felony counts.  The incidents that led to his arrest supposedly took place at the Van Nuys jail on or about July 27, 2008 and Feb. 10, 2009.

Ironically, Lee does not have to be bailed out of jail himself (good thing, because Read more »

Last week, AccreditedBail had a post called “Accountability and Transparency for Pretrial Release Programs“. They reviewed the dollars and cents cost to Orange County Florida’s government for what we know as “Release On Own Recognizance” or basically a defendant who is released with a promise to appear in court.

Surprising was the $1.7 million in taxpayer funds that it takes to screen, release and supervise defendants out on the county’s pretrial release program. You would want to balance that against bail bonds: cost to the tax payer Zero ($0.00).

Pretrial release has a purpose which is codified by law: to help the indigent who have no prior record and are accused of non-violent crimes. Again, balance that with our prior post on Van Nuys Jail “Bail vs. O.R.” Clearly, Read more »

Bad economic news, apparently Bondsmen Are Bailing Out, at least according to the Indianapolis Star:

these days, too many clients are asking for bail without the required collateral, such as a home or a car, diminishing bail bondsmen’s customer base. And not helping matters is a new policy by Marion County judges setting less expensive cash bonds for minor offenses…

Couple the economic situation with other “solutions” being offered in terms of bail. I hear talk of temporily lowering the bail schedule to allow more people in California to post bail. Huh? The bail schedule is set Read more »

As last year, California bail agents met at Lake Tahoe for the 2009 Annual Convention of the California Bail Agents (CBAA). Day one was Monday and included the usual State of the Association and PBUS National Updates.

Pretrial Release

Continuing Education Credit was offered to bondsmen who attended all required sessions, the first of which was an attorney presentation regarding Pre Trial Release presented by Ash Pirayou of Rutan & Tucker and a panel on Credit Card Bail. Pirayou reviewed current happenings in Pretrial Release (commonly known as Release on Own Recognizance or “OR“) in Santa Clara County. Pirayou said that Santa Clara County jailsare attempting to use pretrial release to relieve jail overcrowding and save money, but the bottom line numbers show a significantly different picture. He called on bail agents to help paint an accurate public picture.

Orange County Sheriff Candidate

Bondsmen were also addressed by Bill Hunt, candidate for Orange County Sheriff.  Hunt, who spent 22 years in the Orange County Read more »

Bail bonds are a critical part of the Criminal Justice System,” began Scott Steiner, Deputy District Attorney for Orange County Superior Court and judicial candidate as he addressed the July monthly meeting of the Orange County Bail Agents Association (OCBAA). He added that many see bail as an after thought in a case, but every single case involves bail at some level.

Mr. Steiner wanted to make sure that local bondsmen knew Read more »