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A Quick History Of The U.S Bond System

Vintage shackles rest on an old wooden table

For some countries, the U.S system of bail bonds may seem pretty odd. But you may be surprised to know that the system we know today got its start over a millennium ago. 

Crime in England

The practice of posting money in exchange for temporary release started in England around 1066 A.D, providing a way for people to not sit in jail while they awaited trial. Unfortunately, this practice meant that the rich had a significant advantage, since middle class and poor individuals didn’t have the capital to secure their release. Out of this need came bail bondsmen, who agreed to accept a percentage of bail and post the remainder in the charged party’s stead. Since then, bail bonds have been a way to even out the abilities of the rich and the poor/middle class to obtain temporary release. 

Bail Bonds in the U.S

Bail bonds in the U.S were a fixture of life as soon as the first English settlers arrived on the mainland. Since then, several laws were passed on the state and federal level to ensure that the disparity between different economic groups was further minimized. The world of bail bonds has undergone a number of changes, and will likely continue to change drastically in the coming years. 

Get the Help You Deserve

An arrest can turn you or a loved one’s life upside-down. If you’re in need of a bail bond, call Freedom Bail Bonds today. We understand bail bonds and can get you out quickly and back to your life. 

 

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Five Facts About Bail Bonds You May Not Know

bailIf you find yourself in a position of needing to bail out yourself or a loved one, you know just how tricky and convoluted the process can be. It’s never as simple as they make it out to be on TV. If you need to bail out a loved one, knowing these five facts about bail bonds can help you better prepare for the situation ahead. At Freedom Bail Bonds, not only can we help with bail bonds, but we also want to be sure that all of our clients are well-educated on the topic at hand. Check out these five facts about bail bonds to learn more and to see how these facts may affect your case.

Fact #1: Paying the Bond Yourself Isn’t Always the Best Route

Many people think they’ll just pay the bond and be done with it, but it doesn’t always work that way. Paying the bond may require you to pay in increments for one large fee or different fees at different times. On top of that, it can be rather costly, leaving a large dent in your finances. Your best bet is to go through a bail bonds company.

Fact #2: Collateral May be Different Things

Collateral may be a number of different things, including items you may not think about. Keep this in mind if you know you will be required to put up collateral for a loved one.

Fact #3: It Doesn’t Always End With the Court Dates

People tend to think they’ll pay bail and then show up to their court date and everything will be peachy. However, what they may not know is that they may also be required to take education and training courses, appear at numerous court dates, and do other things that they might not think about.

Fact #4: Bail Isn’t Always Necessary

In some cases, bail isn’t always necessary! Surprising, but true. However, if you do need to pay bail, we’re always here to help.

Fact #5: A Bail Bonds Company Can Help You

Sometimes, when you need to bail yourself or a loved one out of jail, you might not have the funds or the collateral to. A bail bonds company, like ourselves, can help you bail a loved one or yourself out of jail. If you’re in need of this kind of assistance, Freedom Bail Bonds is here to help. We understand how stressful this kind of situation can be. Give us a call today so we can get started helping you!

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What You Need To Know When Getting Someone Out of Jail

bail bonds

 

Life sometimes leads us into bad situations and everyday people in America find themselves in a place where they probably don’t want to be. This happens and it very often happens that you might need to get someone you love out of jail. If you happen to be someone’s one phone call, this means that the person trusts you and you might find yourself searching for answers as to what to do and how to best handle the situation.

What happens first?

The first thing that happens is your friend or loved one is arrested on whatever charge. If the person was arrested during the week, they might go in front of the judge within the next day or two. If they were booked on a Friday, they will likely have to wait until that Monday morning. Usually, bail is set within 48 hours.

In Texas, the person needs to wait until their bail bond hearing before they can be bailed out of jail. At this hearing, the judge will typically decide the amount of bail depending on the crime and past criminal record. Setting bail means that you are paying the amount in order to be released from custody and on the condition that you will come back and show up for your court date.

What Information You Need

You need to know where the person is being held. For example, are they being held by the city policy or the Sheriff’s Department? So when you get that phone call, make sure you get the information. Regardless of the crime, the person will have to undergo the booking process before you can post bail. This process involves fingerprints, photographs, and so on.

Once you know the amount of bail, you may need to call a bail bondsman to help you come up with the funds on the spot. Freedom Bail Bonds is here to help you get your loved one out of jail  with no tricks. 

The bail bondsman can actually appear at your arraignment if you let them know ahead of time. This can speed up the whole process of releasing the person out of jail. Usually, in felony cases, misdemeanors that involve injury, the set bond will be a little higher and can, therefore, mean you will need to call a trusted bondsman right away.

In order to post the bail, you can pay with various forms of payment, depending on the holding facility. You’ll usually need the name of the accused in order to post it, though some courts may require some case or additional information. Once the bail bond is issued, the defendant can be released from jail. The condition is, however, that the person must show up for all the court hearings and meet the conditions set by the court.

Get Fast and Reliable Service

Freedom Bail Bonds is here to help you in your time of need. When life throws surprises at us, we have to be ready to respond quickly and do the best we can to move forward. If you have a loved one in jail and need to help them get out, give us a call today.

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A Look at the Texas Cash Bail Reform Efforts and What They Mean

 

As we discussed in one of our recent posts, there has been a lot of talk recently regarding the cash bail system and an attempt by states and localities across the country to do away with the current system or reform it. Because of all of this discussion, there is a lot of doubt out there about what has changed or what will change. While legislation seems to be in the works, we are keeping an eye on this to ensure that we are informed about any changes.

The Conversation After a Tragic Case

Talk of criminal justice reform has been on the agenda of politicians for many years now. We discussed not long ago the legislation signed by President Trump on the matter. Lumped in with many of these demands for change in the criminal justice system, is the questioning of the effectiveness, and in some cases, the constitutionality of the bond system as it stands.

In Texas specifically, the prompt to change the bail laws came when a state trooper was shot to death in his patrol car in November of 2017. Damon Allen, a husband, and father, was a trooper on duty one November night when he conducted a routine traffic stop. It was here that he confronted, DaBrett Black who shot the officer. Early that year, Black had led police on a wild chase ending it when he finally rammed into a police car on purpose. Black had apparently a history of committing violent acts against law enforcement. It was in 2015 as well when Black had another run-in with police but was released on bail. The judge that let him go claimed that he was not aware ‘of any previous conviction.’

The Damon Allen case is obviously a tragedy and a case that seems to have fallen through the cracks. The previous conviction might have changed the outcome of that judge’s decision. After the death of the Texas Trooper, his wife paid a visit to Governor Abbott’s office and prompted him to announce intentions of seeking reform on the system.

The governor took a look at the Allen case and recognized where the flaw may have occurred, proposing that there be more of a risk assessment system where the decision of being released rests on the information of criminal past, prior convictions, previous failure to appear in court, etc. The proposed new systems, if implemented correctly that is, would make it harder for defendants with long criminal records or those being accused of committing more severe crimes, to get out before their trial. At the same time, it would allow people with no criminal records, younger defendants, etc, to be released. The argument is that many people stuck in jail that cannot make bail often take guilty pleas in order to get out of jail.

Proposed Legislation Being Discussed Back and Forth

The proposed legislation would be called the Damon Allen Act, after the deceased trooper. On the local level, some of these new laws are already being implemented and tried in individual counties. Harris County, located on the Southeastern part of the state of Texas, has already decided to end cash bail for all misdemeanor offenses. This makes exceptions, however, for domestic violence arrests or repeated DWI arrests and violations. The law wouldn’t necessarily impede judges from making decisions about bail, but rather setting the amount based on more wide-ranging information about the kind of life and criminal past the defendant has lived before the present accusation.

Of course, the future of these laws is still up in the air and the industry we are in finds itself in the middle of this discussion without much to say about it. The cash bail system today allows for people awaiting trial an opportunity to get out of jail by posting an amount that the judge decides. In most cases, this allows for people to move forward until they receive their day in court.

The flux of these policies has caused a lot of uncertainty, but we continue to provide services to people of El Paso County who need to post bail in order to get out and prepare their defense, gather evidence, or take care of their families and mortgages. If you have recently been arrested or have had a loved one arrested in El Paso County give us a call and we will answer any questions about the current changes, our services, and more.

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How Big Tech Companies are Impacting Bail Bonds

 

In 2018, big companies like Google and Facebook decided to weigh in on a topic that has had some political pull for years. It’s not exactly news to see big tech companies revealing political leanings through the implementation of certain policies. They’ve been outspoken before. Criminal justice reform has been a profound topic of conversation among policymakers for many years. It’s a cause heralded by many on the political left and the libertarian right and one that has a lot of merit and complexities imbued.  It’s not a black or white issue, yet it seems the stigmatization of the bail bond industry has been targeted to carry a lot of the weight for a much bigger problem.

Many would argue that the cause of criminal justice reform carries an undeniable racial element that must be addressed. Last year, President Trump himself signed a bipartisan-supported bill on the matter—many aspects of which were controversial— giving judges more discretion on sentencing and encouraging changes to improve the recidivism rate.

However, in their efforts to have some impact on this the tech giants decided to target private companies and curb advertisements on bail bondsman. NBC reported in May of 2018, that the companies decided to block advertisements from bails bondsman on the grounds that it violated their attempt to keep “damaging and hurtful” content off users sites.

For many years, people have misunderstood and often vilified the concept of the industry. When a person is arrested, a judge has the discretion to set bail so that person can be released from jail with a promise that he/she will return to their set court date. Getting released from jail as people await their constitutionally guaranteed trial is important for families to be reunited, for the accused to hire and talk to an attorney freely, to continue working or providing for their loved ones, etc.

Reaction to the Decision

Many in the media commented on the recent decision by Google and Facebook that has much broader implications about the power of these tech companies to impose political leanings via policies and decisions. The decision appears to some as nothing more than moral posturing and an attempt to pose as arbiters of justice in a private market. The issue begs the question about how an advertisement for bail is “damaging and hurtful” content to begin with but also how these companies seem now to have control over what is considered harmful to the average person. In other words, much of the market now depends on Facebook’s definition of “harmful” which can extend into some dicey territory.

Several groups have led a charge against the industry of bail bondsman and called it bail bond reform. Preventing these ads on social media and obfuscating the fact that there is access to funds that can help families post bond does not in itself create any solutions for the people they purport to be helping. It is not legislative reform. Jeff Clayton, executive director of the American Bail Coalition, dismissed the amount and claimed the companies were trying make the bail reform appear bigger than it really was.

Criminal justice reform has supporters on both sides of the isle and has for some time now worked to dismantle certain aspects of our criminal justice system.

Recent Discoveries

According to a recent impromptu experiment in the state of Maryland, showed that the elimination of bail actually increased the number of defendants held without bail from 10% to 14%. At the same time, fewer released defendants are showing up for trial. A ‘no show’ in court can face bigger penalties and consequences down the line. The concept of 24-hour bail bonds is contingent upon the judge’s discretion to set a bail amount so an accused person has the opportunity to get fast and reliable bail bond services.

Get Freedom with Freedom Bonds

Despite this controversy, Freedom Bail Bonds is here to help you deal with your arrest and better prepare for your court date. You have a right to a fair trial and a right to keep your life together until that date comes.  If you have been recently arrested or have a loved one that has been arrested, posting bail is the fastest way to get out and keep your life in order while you wait for court.