Tweeker Seeker» santa clara county http://www.tweekerseeker.com Chronicles of a Bounty Hunter Mon, 08 Feb 2010 22:21:47 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Bail bondsmen make it cheaper to get out of jail http://www.tweekerseeker.com/2008/12/26/bail-bondsmen-make-it-cheaper-to-get-out-of-jail/ http://www.tweekerseeker.com/2008/12/26/bail-bondsmen-make-it-cheaper-to-get-out-of-jail/#comments Fri, 26 Dec 2008 18:54:34 +0000 me http://www.tweekerseeker.com/?p=146 There’s an interesting article that appeared in the Associated Press today about bail companies that allow criminals to make payments on their bail premium or the fee they pay when they are bailed out of jail. The article talks about the increase in bail-credit because of the slowing economy and brings up several good points about the risks associated with  financing the bail premium. However the article failed to mention that a number of counties in California have increased the number of criminals who are being released on their own recognizance (O.R.). Santa Clara County, for one, has recently increased the number and types of criminals who are released under their ORP and SORP programs. Santa Clara County has also initiated an amnesty program for persons with non-violent, misdemeanor bench warrants. If you get arrested before the end of the year on a qualifying warrant, you are cited and released without having to post bond.

The definitions below were taken directly from Santa Clara County’s website:

ORP
ORP stands for “Own Recognizance Release Program.” Defendants who are granted an Own Recognizance Release are required to make all scheduled court appearances and to not violate any laws.

SORP
SORP stands for “Supervised Own Recognizance Release Program.” Defendants who are granted a Supervised Own Recognizance Release have been granted a release that is based upon the defendant’s agreement to abide by specific conditions set by the Court. Examples of conditions that might be imposed are; drug treatment and drug testing; psychological counseling; “no contact” orders; domestic violence counseling; and frequent reporting to the Office of Pretrial Services.

There are two factors that need to be considered here. First, when a jail O.R’s a criminal and he fails to appear in court the only agency who cares about this is the agency who gets the warrant for the criminal’s arrest. This may be the original agency that arrested the criminal or the local Sheriff’s office. I can tell you from experience that when a department gets a bench warrant they may visit the criminal’s house once – this is called “due diligence”. I can also tell you that, rarely, will they spend any time hunting for the criminal as they have no financial interest in getting this guy back to court.

On the other hand, if the criminal is bailed out by a bail company, regardless of how he paid for the premium, the bail company has to get him back to court or risk paying off the bond. So, on a $10,000 bond, the criminal is required to pay a 10% premium or $1,000. If they fail to appear in court the bail company is required to pay $10,000 to the court or return the criminal back to jail. This is why bail companies hire bounty hunters; bounty hunters save the bail companies money.

There is an obvious advantage to society to force criminals to use bail companies and NOT an OR program. The writer for the Associated Press should have done a bit more homework on the bail system before writing this article. For the record, I’m not a fan of bail-credit but also I’m less a fan of the OR system.

The Associated Press: Bail bondsmen make it cheaper to get out of jail.

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