Austin Bail Bonds
A bail bond agent, or bondsman, is any person or corporation that will act as a surety and pledge money or property as bail for the appearance of a criminal defendant in court. Although banks, insurance companies and other similar institutions are usually the sureties on other types of contracts (for example, to bond a contractor who is under a contractual obligation to pay for the completion of a construction project) such entities are reluctant to put their depositors' or policyholders' funds at the kind of risk involved in posting a bail bond. Bail bond agents, on the other hand, are usually in the business to cater to criminal defendants, often securing their customers' release in just a few hours.
Bail involves a process in which a defendant is released in exchange for money. This money is a type of “insurance” that the defendant will show up for his or her court dates. Bail bonds exist because trials can take weeks or months to work their way through the court system and bail permits a defendant – who may be innocent – to wait for their trial at home, while pursuing normal activities.