Reply to comment

I appreciate your use of the term "poppycock," but many bail-bond agents have a very limited interest in what happens when their "client" leaves jail. Their primary motivation is profit -- the side effects of what happens when a person is released is not particularly relevant to the bail-bond business (especially since bail bondsmen don't face liability for the conduct of their "clients"). For example, last month in Washington State an alleged child rapist “bail shopped” and got out of jail after posting only $3,000 of $190,000 bail, then killed 4 police officers.
http://www.kimatv.com/news/local/121362079.html

You mention that bail bondsmen have an economic incentive for their client to reappear, but as the article mentions, many times a bail bondsman's debts to the court are forgiven (thereby limiting the economic incentive to make sure someone shows up). From an NPR investigation last year on for-profit bail bondsmen in Lubbock, Texas:

"Statistically, most bail jumpers are not caught by bondsmen or their bounty hunters. They're caught by sheriff's deputies, according to Beni Hemmeline from Lubbock's district attorney's office.

"More often than not, the defendants are rearrested on a warrant that's issued after they fail to appear," Hemmeline said.Asked if the bondsmen are fulfilling their end of the deal, Hemmeline says, "Well, it may be that [the bondsmen] can't find them. They can't camp at the door 24 hours a day. They do the best that they can, I think."

If a defendant does run, the bondsman is also supposed to pay the county the full cost of the bond as a sort of punishment for not keeping an eye on the client.

But that doesn't happen, either, Hemmeline says.

Hemmeline says Lubbock usually settles for a far lower amount than the full bond. In fact, according to the county treasurer in Lubbock, bondsmen usually only pay 5 percent of the bond when a client runs.

Consider that math for a minute. The bondsmen charge clients at least 10 percent. But if the client runs, they only have to pay the county 5 percent. Meaning if they make no effort whatsoever, they still profit.

Hemmeline says asking for more might put the bondsmen out of business.

"Bond companies serve an important purpose," she says.

NPR found bondsmen getting similar breaks in other states. In California, bondsmen owe counties $150 million that they should have had to pay when their clients failed to show up for court. In New Jersey, bondsmen owe $250,000 over the past four years. In Erie, Pa., officials stopped collecting money for a time because it was too much of a hassle to get the bonding companies to pay up."
http://www.npr.org/2010/01/21/122725771/Bail-Burden-Keeps-U-S-Jails-Stuffed-With-Inmates

The larger issue here is that a profit-oriented business is in the position of deciding which accused persons can get out of jail, and which do not. This means that people who don't have the money to pay the bailbondsmen stay in jail, and those who have it get out. It also interferes with alternative pre-trial release programs like those mentioned in Milwaukee.

As for NO COST TO TAXPAYERS, the NPR investigation suggests that taxpayer-funded law enforcement officers tend to catch more bail-jumpers than bounty hunters; as for other "costs to taxpayers," please read under the "Costs to Taxpayers, Judicial Integrity" heading in my article.