Hey, it’s Julianne Murray and we are here for the Murray Monday Minute.
This week we are going to talk about bail. What is bail and what is it designed for?
Bail is to ensure that a defendant shows up for their day in court.
Lots of things go into figuring bail. Things like criminal history, what the crime is, all sorts of different things go into it, but there are four different levels that people need to understand.
The first is called OR or own recognizance and it’s basically the defendant is giving their promise they will be there that day or let out there is no money, no bond, no bail that has be to posted.
The next is called unsecured bail. There an amount is set to ensure that the defendant shows up for court, but there is no money that has to be put up. It is actually unsecured.
Next, after that and these are each in order of seriousness of the crime, but also the guarantee to get you to come to court.
Next is secured bail. In secured bail, basically same amount is set, but now money has to be put up. Enter a bail bondsman, bail bondsman will post 10% of that bail. It is not refundable, it doesn’t come back to the family or to the defendant, but it is to ensure that they show up for court.
The highest level of bail is what is called cash bail. Cash bail is exactly what it sounds like, but you don’t have to put up all of the money. You only have to put up a third. So, if there is a $100,000 cash bail that’s set, a bail bondsman is going to put up $33,000. Again, not refundable, but that is what cash bail is.
Next week, we are going to talk about why cash bail is important and ending cash bail is a terrible idea.
