In California, a bail amount will depend on the charge and on the jurisdiction where the charge is filed. There is no standard bail rate in the state of California. Each county in California has established its own list of crimes and bail amounts. For the most serious crimes in this state, bail can be a million dollars or more, although $20,000 and $50,000 are more typical bail amounts for less serious offenses.
Calculating Bail Bond in California
Bail bonds in California can create a big question mark in most people’s heads, especially the process of calculating how much you’ll pay. What can you expect in California?
The world of bail bonds goes beyond just giving money to the courts to leave a jailhouse or a correctional facility. Calculating a bail bond in California is done by setting the severity of the crimes, and it can be increased or decreased by a judge upon a more individualized evaluation of the person’s likelihood of returning to court and being a public safety danger. But it also varies by county and city. Each county in California has its own bail schedule for each type of offense.
Bail can be a million dollars or more for the most serious crimes in California. Nevertheless, $20,000 and $50,000 are more typical bail amounts for less serious offenses. When a suspect is accused of a serious felony, a California judge usually will not reduce that suspect’s bail amount below the minimum bail amount for that charge as established by that jurisdiction. In the area of Southern California, if someone cannot afford bail or believes that his or her bail amount is unfair, an experienced San Diego criminal defense attorney can request a bail hearing on that defendant’s behalf.
Every few years, a group of judges reviews the bail amounts for each crime and changes the amounts as they see fit. The arresting officers assign bail amounts most of the time, but they are just temporary, only until the defendant can have their first court hearing. Once this happens, the bail amounts can be pulled off of a bail schedule.
The amount of bail also depends on factors such as a defendant’s past criminal record, whether a defendant is employed, and whether a defendant has close ties to relatives and the community. Theoretically, bail should be increased from the bail schedule amounts when the defendant is wealthy, even so, paying the bail amount does not guarantee his or her return to court.
Bail Prices
In California, a bail bond generally costs 10%, which is mandated by law and set by the California Department of Insurance. The bail fee, or premium, is a non-refundable percentage of the total amount of the bail. Simply, if the bail amount is $10,000, the bail bond fee will be $1,000. All this is a type of surety bond.
Most criminal cases come with a load of uncertainty, mostly during the arrest and arraignment of the case. This is where the client starts asking about bail prices for a particular offense, which is understandable and necessary, as no one knows for sure how much bail will be given because it depends on the offense.
Bailing someone out of jail can be very high, and in California, even the cheapest bail amounts in the state can cost thousands of dollars. This is a situation that hurts many families in the country.
Bail agents are indeed required by California law to charge 10% of the full bail amount, but some companies are allowed to offer certain discounts to qualified clients and Escondido Bail Bonds has affordable bail bonds.
Need help posting bail? We can help
Bail is the temporary release of an accused person awaiting trial, sometimes on the condition that a sum of money is lodged to guarantee their appearance in court.
Southern California Jails We Service:
- Riverside County
- Los Angeles County
- Orange County
- San Bernadino County
- Santa Barbra County
- Ventura County
- Imperial County
Escondido Bail Bonds have the cheapest bail bonds with great services in all of Southern California and have a network of Licensed Bail Agents within 5 miles of every Jail. Please contact us with any questions in regards to the bail process or inmate information.
*Disclaimer: Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this publication at the time it was written. It is not intended to provide legal advice or suggest a guaranteed outcome as individual situations will differ.
