# Bail vs Bond. What's the difference? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 20, 2015, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bail-vs-bond-whats-the-difference/723008 "2015-06-20T14:07:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bizerta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@bizerta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizerta)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2015, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bail-vs-bond-whats-the-difference/723008/1 "2015-06-20T14:07:23Z")
Roof, the SC shooter, is being held on one million dollars bond. What does that mean? Can he get our on bail? As I understand it, bail is set by the court as an incentive for the defendant to appear in court. Anyone can give the court the bail money to hold. If the defendant returns as scheduled, the bail money is refunded. If the defendant skips town, the bail is kept by the court. If my understanding is correct, bond is simply bail, but involves a for-profit third party. A bail bondsman puts up the bail money and charges the defendant a percentage (usually 10%) which is the bondsman’s profit. The defendant loses his 10% as a price for not having to deposit 100% of the bail. The bondsman may have suficient credit with the court such that he never puts up with the cash unless the defendant skips town. I assume that bounty hunters are hired by bondsmen to find the defendants who flee. So, I have the following questions: (A) If a defendant flees and a bounty hunter catches them and returns them to jail, does the bondsman get his bail refunded? (B) If one posts bail and flees, then returns voluntarily a month later, is the bail then refunded? © Who gets the forfeited bail money? Is it just a general source of income for the juristiction, like license fees and parking tickets? ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2015, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bail-vs-bond-whats-the-difference/723008/2 "2015-06-20T14:11:32Z")
Bail is the ability to leave custody upon a promise, or other consideration, to guarantee appearance by the defendant. Bond is the document that is posted with the court if a promise is insufficient, or more specifically, a bail bond. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2015, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bail-vs-bond-whats-the-difference/723008/3 "2015-06-20T16:27:05Z")
> [@bizerta](#): > > Roof, the SC shooter, is being held on one million dollars bond. What does that mean? Can he get our on bail? IIRC, he’s got $1 million bail for one weapons charge. There’s no bail set of the murder charges yet because the judge he was in front of wasn’t allowed to do so. He won’t get any bail on those murder charges, he’ll stay in prison until trial. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2015, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bail-vs-bond-whats-the-difference/723008/4 "2015-06-20T17:05:34Z")
Each jurisdiction is different, but in my state: a) Yes. A person posting bail for a third party has up to two years to return the Defendant to the state’s custody and still get his money back. b) No. A defendant posting his own bail must always and immediately comply with court orders. If he is 10 minutes late without good cause, he forfeits his bail. c) They money goes to a general “court improvement fund” which is spent at the discretion of the Chief Judge of the local circuit. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2015, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bail-vs-bond-whats-the-difference/723008/5 "2015-06-20T17:10:23Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > a) Yes. A person posting bail for a third party has up to two years to return the Defendant to the state’s custody and still get his money back. See: bounty hunters. ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2015, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bail-vs-bond-whats-the-difference/723008/6 "2015-06-20T20:12:27Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > IIRC, he’s got $1 million bail for one weapons charge. There’s no bail set of the murder charges yet because the judge he was in front of wasn’t allowed to do so. He won’t get any bail on those murder charges, he’ll stay in prison until trial. He appeared before a magistrate who cannot set bail for a murder charge. Media often refers to magistrates as judges, but they are not judges, and in some jurisdictions do not even have to be attorneys.