People who are arrested and charged with a crime in California do not necessarily have to stay in jail until their trial; the 8th Amendment of the US Constitution guarantees their right to bail. The cost of bail can vary from case-to-case. Below is a description of the factors that can influence the cost of bail and what you can do about it.
Each county has a bail schedule that sets the cost of bail based on the severity of the crime. For example, felonies tend to have a higher bail amount than misdemeanors because they’re considered more serious crimes. That is not the only factor that influences the cost of a bail bond, though. Additional factors include:
- Whether you are considered a flight risk
- The severity of the crime
- Previous criminal record (if any)
- The defendant’s ability to afford bail
Should these factors influence a defendant’s bail so much that the cost becomes extremely expensive, or if the current bail amount is considered to be too expensive for the defendant, it’s possible to have one’s bail amount reduced.
The point of bail is to allow a defendant to be released from police custody as they await their trial. If the defendant fails to appear before the court, they then forfeit the amount of bail to the court clerk and cannot get it back. If the defendant does appear before the court, the bail they paid does not get affected.
A defendant’s lawyer can request a bail hearing to have their client’s bail either reduced or eliminate it entirely. It’s up to the judge to decide whether bail should be reduced, raised, eliminated altogether, or revoked. To have one’s bail reduced, their lawyer will need to show the judge that the defendant has ties to the community, is unable to afford bail at the current cost, and any other factors that might help sway the judge’s opinion.
