How does bounty hunting work?

Question

I want to write a book about a group of bounty hunters but I'm not sure how it works. I know that when someone is accused of a crime they are sent to court and that the bondsman has to give the court a cash bond. I'm not sure why though -- like why does this particular person have to give money to the court? Does the accused victim hire a bondsman? And, if the person doesn't go to court the bondsman loses a lot of money (but if the person does go to court, then he gets to keep the money, I think?) unless they hire a bounty hunter to bring the person to court. But I heard it's common that the bondsman is the bounty hunter aswell.
So, basically I'm asking why the bondsman has to pay and if the accused has to hire a bondsman or if he just gets one?
Second question: I've been looking at other Yahoo questions that are asked about bounty hunting. I don't get this "You pay the bondsman some money....which is usually a fraction of the bond set by the judge." What bond does the judge set? I don't get this at all.
Third question: How much do bondsman and bounty hunters get paid? I know this depends on what they were accused of, so could you give some examples?
Fourth question: What crimes do they get sent to court for? I mean, they would send police out to find the accused if it was something major, so what cases do bounty hunters get?
Fifth (and last question): Does bounty hunting get dangerous and what happens when the accused decides to run and get out of the country?

Thank you for answering! ;) I know it's a lot of questions but if you could answer them all I would be very grateful, thanks.

Answer 1

Let me explain the process for you:



When you get arrested, it is often a few months before the court holds your trial. While a few people are locked up for the entire time before the trial (this is the case for people who are likely to run away or commit crimes before the trial), most people can get something called "bail", which means that you are allowed to go free until the trial, but you need to return to court on the trial date.



The courts often impose certain conditions for bail- a common one is that you need to give the court some money to be released. If you attend at the right time, you get the money back, but if not, the court gets the money. This is the "bond" you're asking about.



Now a lot of people can't pay the full bond, so they hire a "bondsman" to pay for the rest. Say you had to pay the court $8000. Instead, you give $1000 to the bondsman, who pays the court the rest of the $8000. If you attend, the bondsman gets the $8000 back, and keeps his fee.



If you don't attend, the bondsman can obviously lose money, so he might hire a bounty hunter to track you down and bring you to court so he gets his money back. The bounty hunter is normally paid a percentage of the bond. When you sign the contract with a bondsman to pay your bond, the contract will always have a term saying he can send a bounty hunter to get you if you don't attend (this is why bounty hunters can go after bail jumpers, but nobody else).



So that's how the process works. To answer your other questions:



Third: Not as much as you'd think, but it depends a lot on what sort of cases they get.



Fourth: All sorts of crimes, ranging from minor things such as shoplifting to serious ones like murder or rape.



Fifth: Bounty hunting is illegal in all countries except the US, so if the accused gets out of the country, the bounty hunter can't follow them- he'd need to call the police in the other country to arrest him. A few bounty hunters break the law and continue the chase, and some have gone to jail themselves for doing this.

Answer 2

Just don't write the book



You seem oblivious to one of the basic ideas of jurisprudence.





Someone is arrested for a crime. The judge sets bail. Bail is a sum of money given to the court to hold in return for a promise to show up in court. If the person doesn't return, they keep the money and issue a warrant.



A bail bondsman merely loans this money to prisoners, usually in return for a percentage of the money upfront in cash.



Now originally, bail was someone putting up their house and business to guarantee they'd comeback. Bail bonds basically subvert this, by giving the accused no incentive to return, as his money is gone.





So bail bondsmen hire bounty hunters to bring these people in, so they can keep their money.



Bounty hunters are basically thugs who sat through six hours of instruction to be a bounty hunter. They're often just wannabee cops, barred because of assorted criminal and mental records.

Answer 3

Bounty hunters are employed in the US by persons standing bail for suspects to recover the suspect to court to prevent the person standing bail forfeiting the cash they have put up. Bail in UK is completely different.. No money is produced up front apart from in very rare occasions where the suspect has to produce a security of a specific sum of money before being released on bail - as I say, very rare. A surety promises to pay a court a fixed amount should the suspect fail to turn up on the appropriate date. No money is put down. Should the surety realise the suspect is not going to turn up, they go to the court or police and inform them that they are withdrawing as a surety. The suspect is then arrested for breach of bail. This is a 'police only' power of arrest I can't see how anybody could make money out of this.