Columbia Bail Bonds

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Forms of Bail.
Bail or bail bonds can vary from state to state, county to county, but the common forms of bail includes:

Recognizance — a promise made by the accused to the court that he/she will appear at all required court proceedings and will not engage in any illegal activity or other prohibited conduct as set by the court. Typically a dollar amount is set by the court, but is not paid by the defendant unless the court orders it forfeited; this is known as an unsecured appearance bond or release on one's own recognizance.

Surety — when a third party agrees to be responsible for the monetary portion of bond obligation of the defendant. In many jurisdictions this service is provided commercially by a bail bondsman, where the agent will receive 10% of the bail amount up front and will keep that amount whether the defendant appears in court or not. The court in many jurisdictions, especially jurisdictions that prohibit bail bondsmen, may demand a certain amount of the total bail (typically 10%) be given to the court, which, unlike with bail bondsmen, is returned if the defendant does not violate the conditions of bail. This also also known as surety on the bond.

Conditions of release - many varied non-monetary conditions and restrictions on liberty can be imposed by a court to ensure that a person released into the community will appear in court and not commit any more crimes. Common examples include: mandatory calls to the police, surrendering passports, home detention, electronic monitoring, drug testing, alcohol counseling, surrendering firearms.

Protective order also called an Order of protection- one very common feature of any conditional release, whether on bail, bond or condition, is a court order requiring the defendant to refrain from criminal activity against the alleged crime victim, or stay away from and have no contact with the alleged crime victim. The former is a limited order, the latter a full order. Violation of the order can subject the defendant to automatic forfeiture of bail and further fine or imprisonment.

Cash — typically "cash only," where the defendant must provide the full amount of the bail to the court.

Combinations - courts often allow defendants to post cash bail or bond, and then impose further conditions, as mentioned above, in order to protect the community and guarantee appearance of the accused. Some additional conditions or combination of release could include a curfew, electronic monitoring "ELMO" or GPS Tracking", restrictions on travel and court ordered stay away warnings like no contact with victims or witnesses, refrain from visiting public transportation facilities like airports and marinas. The bail bond may be forfeited for violation of any one all of these conditions and the defendant remanded to jail, for failure to appear and or comply when required.