I was watching dog the bounty hunter and wondering, how does the whole bail bonds thing work????

Answer 1

First off, STOP WATCHING DOG THE BOUNTY HUNTER. It is not real, and in no way is he, or his show and accurate representation of a Bail Agent, or Fugitive Recovery Agent...
When you get arrested for a crime, you sit in jail until court day. OR you make BAIL. If you cannot afford the cash bail in your case, you can hire a BAIL Bondsman to post bail for you. The Bail bondsman is going to charge a fee for this service. Usually 10 or 15 % in my area. This is the Bail Bondsman's promise to the court that you will appear on your court date, and you are released on his Bond. If you fail to appear, the bondsman is served with a forfeiture....in other words he has to pay the bail. He has X amount of days to do this or return you to custody. Most bonsmen I know do their own pick ups, but in some cases if the bond is big enough, the charges serious or dangerous enough, or you've fled the state etc, the bondsman will hire a Recovery Agent (or bounty hunter) to track you and arrest you and return you to jail. Pretty simple.

Answer 2

Let's say that I was arrested (held in custody), & then given an arraignment date to hear what charges I was being held on. IF I thought that I might be released by the attending Judge, then I might just want to wait those 3-5 days & see if I could get the Judge to lower my bail amount. That's the wisest thing to do. Sometimes people aren't thinking wisely, so they get someone (anyone) they know to post their bail for them so that they can leave ASAP. Your arrest charges usually have a bail amount that goes with them & they are set in stone until a Judge changes them. Sometimes, a Judge will up a persons bail & they know this, so they bail (literally). If a person has a $5000 bail, someone goes into the bondsmans office & pays the bail fee in cash OR they pay 10-15% in cash & make up the balance by turning over a pink slip to a vehicle that is of equal or more value than the remaining sum of the bail. IF the person who has been arrested fails to appear in court on the specified date, then the person who posted their bail looses everything they have "wagered" or bonded over to the agent. It's like a loan shark...only there are no hidden charges or agendas. It's all on the up & up. When a person fails to appear in court, a warrant is issued for their re-arrest & if they are stopped by a member law enforcement, they will be held & taken back to jail to be held without bail. Also, the bailbondsman places their info on a list that is available to licensed bounty hunters who collect a fee for returning the person to the system to face their original charges. The ORIGINAL bail amount becomes valid again & the arresting agent who is working like a free-lance Police Officer, gets a percentage of the bail $ for turning the person over to the proper authorities. Hope this makes it a bit clearer.

Answer 3

Here's how I understand it. After you are arraigned, a judge can release you on bail, let's say $50,000. If you pay that much, you will be out of jail, and after your trial, whether you are found guilty or innocent, you get your money back. If they release you on bail, and you flee the country, you will not get your money back.

Now, most people can't afford $50,000, so they get a bail bond. You pay the bail bondsman a fee, say 10%, and they will pay your bail and collect it back after your trial. If you take advantage of the bail bond, and flee the country, then the bail bondsman is out $50,000 and has a compelling reason to hire a bounty hunter.

Answer 4

When a person jumps bail, the bail bondsman is out the money he put out for this guy, so the bondsman owns him body andsoul. He therefore send out a bounty hunter after this guy, and if he catches him and brings him back, he gets a commission for bring him back.

Answer 5

He works for a bail bonding business enterprise. probable one he owns. He corporation places up the money to bail human beings out of reformatory with the ultimatum of take place on your court docket date. If the perp would not instruct canines is the bountry hunter that catches them and turns them over to the police. In return the police provide him a physique receipt that he's taking to his corporation and gets paid.

Answer 6

Love the puppy dog they sent off to college....the son!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bail_bond
Bail bondsman. They fork out money to release you from jail. You have to have collateral behind you. You skip your court appearance you lose. They find you. And these folks are good at it. The Momma is a pit bull dog. Pops in some legal trouble over Mexico & the Max Factor heir. It's a family affair. I have spoken to them for friends and sat with the cutie as we flew out of Honolulu last year...

Answer 7

I think when they bond you out of jail, let's say your bond is 20,000. You pay ten percent of the bond, and I assume they keep a certain percentage of it. I know they don't keep all of the money, but I'm not for sure how much the percentage is.
But then again, I really don't know. I have never had to bond someone out and I especially have never had to be bonded out.

Answer 8

Oh its simple really. You loan people money so they can post bail. Then you hunt them down with a film crew when they fail to show up in court.