How is Bail Amount Determined?

The bail system in California was established so that people accused of a crime do not have to spend days, weeks, months, or even years inside a jail cell while they await their trial to be concluded. This is essentially an agreement between the court and the defendant wherein the latter agrees to post a determined amount of money to the court as an insurance that he or she will attend all trials and proceedings. The money is returned upon the conclusion of the trial.

The nature of bail is to ensure that the defendant goes to court, which is why it is set at a high amount. Statistics even show that the average bail amount in California is at $50,000. Of course, this would vary from case to case and there are a lot of factors go into how much the bail would be for a defendant.

Determining Bail Amount

The first thing to know about determining bail amount is that it is the judge in charge of the trial who does this. He or she would look at different factors, understand the situation, and based on that, set an amount for bail. The specific factors that influence the bail amount are:

1. The primary factor that a judge would determine in the bail amount is the danger to the community. If this person is released, what are the chances that he or she would do harm to another person? As stated in the California Penal Code 1275, “The public safety shall be the primary consideration.”
2. How serious is the crime? The more serious the crime is, the higher the bail amount becomes. This is especially true for violent crimes.
3. The judge would also look at the criminal history of the defendant. If he or she has multiple records, then bail would be set higher as compared to those accused of their first crime.
4. If the defendant indeed has a previous record and has missed prior trial dates, that would also influence the bail amount greatly.
5. Even without prior missed records, a judge would have to determine the “flight risk” of the defendant. This is basically the chance that the accused would flee the state or country in order to evade the law and future court hearings.
6. If the defendant is on parole or on probation, the bail amount would be set higher as well.

A judge would use these factors, and any other that might seem relevant to the case, in order to set bail. These factors can actually indicate denial of bail as well.

Denial of Bail

There are cases wherein bail is actually denied. These are cases wherein the defendant has a high chance of committing a violent crime or do harm onto another person if released from prison on bail.

If bail is denied outright, the defendant would then have to spend the entirety of the trial in jail.

There have been instances where an accused spends months or even years in jail awaiting their trial to be concluded only to be found not guilty by a jury of their peers. On the other hand, however, there have been cases wherein the defendant was granted bail and he or she commits another crime.

The latter scenario is what denial of bail aims to resolve.

Bail Schedule

For the purpose of making things simpler and hastening bail hearings, some counties in California have adopted a bail schedule. This is basically a list of bail amounts for different misdemeanors and felonies in the county. The process is that the judge would ask the bail deputy what the bail schedule is for the crime the accused is facing. The deputy would then provide this information to the judge then they would note any previous failures to appear in court.

Bail amounts and schedules differ from one country to another with violent crimes usually having the highest bail amounts.

Bail Bonds

Bail amount varies greatly from one case to another. What is clear is that this can be a hefty amount. As noted earlier, the average bail amount in California is at $50,000. This means a lot of people cannot afford to post bail on their own. This is where a bail bond comes in.

A San Luis Bail Bonds Ca intends to help those accused of a crime to set bail and not spend time in prison while they await the outcome of their trial. For a fee of around 10% of the total bail amount, bail bondsmen can post bail on behalf of the accused. The latter, of course, would need collateral or a co-signee as well to cover the total amount.

If you are in need of a bail bond, consider ABC Bonding. We have years of experience and we aim to help our clients make the best possible decision. We understand these can be stressful times, so we try to ensure to relieve some of that. You can contact us for a free consultation right now.