13 Sep Why Is My Bail More Expensive?
Were you recently arrested for a crime and surprised to see how expensive your bail was? Most people usually are, but you had other reasons for being shocked about the bail amount. You had a friend who was once arrested for the same reason, and their bail amount was lower than yours. How could that be? You were arrested for the same crime.
When the judge assigned your bail amount, he looked at a few different factors. These factors included:
• Your criminal record
• Your ties to the community
When it comes to how much a person’s bail should be for a crime, every county has what is called a bail schedule. This is simply a list of every crime, and what the bail should be for each crime. Judges use bail schedules as a starting point to determine a person’s bail.
Next a judge will look at your criminal record. If you have been arrested several times, your bail will likely be higher. This is to encourage people to behave while out on bail, or else they will lose more money. So, if you have a larger criminal record than your friend, your bail would be higher than his was.
Your ties to the community let a judge know how likely you are to flee while out on bail. If you have a stable job, or a lot of family in the area, then you are less likely to run away. Inversely, if you have no connections to the area, there is a better chance you might skip bail, which is why the bail would be higher, to try and encourage you to stick around.
All of this can play a factor into how two people can be arrested for the same crime, and have different bail amounts. You can learn more about bail and bail bonds by contacting the professionals here at Van Pool Bail Bonds in El Cerrito.