If you watch much television, you’ve probably seen variations of this scene dozens of times: a judge bangs a gavel and announces, “Bail is set at $100,000.” The defendant looks despondent as he consults with his lawyers. But somehow he ends up free while waiting for his trial to begin. One hundred thousand dollars is a lot of money to come up with -- how did he afford it? And what did it mean when the defense attorney claimed his client was not a “flight risk”?

Bail works by releasing a defendant in exchange for money that the court holds until all proceedings and trials surrounding the accused person are complete. The court hopes that the defendant will show up for his or her court dates in order to recover the bail.

In many cases, trials can begin weeks or months after an initial arrest, and if not for bail, many people, some of whom might be innocent, would have to wait in jail until their trials began. At the minimum, this can present a financial hardship, as the person would be unable to work. And, the person would also be missing his or her life -- family events, holidays, etc. Not everyone who is released on bail is eventually acquitted, so to prevent particular dangerous suspects from being released, several safeguards have been built into bail law. In this article, we’ll learn about those safeguards, how the bail process works and how this system has changed since it was first started in England centuries ago.

Bail Terms bail-jumping - the criminal offense of defaulting on one’s bail bailee - a person who receives personal property from another as a bailment bailer/bail agent/bail bondsman - one who provides bail as a surety for a criminal defendant’s release bail bond - a bond given to a court by a criminal defendant’s surety to guarantee that the defendant will duly appear in court in the future and, if the defendant is jailed, to obtain the defendant’s release from confinement bail commissioner - a judge empowered to hold an emergency hearing to set bail when a hearing cannot be held during regular court hours excessive bail - bail that is unreasonably high considering both the offense with which the accused is charged and the risk that the accused will not appear for trial personal recognizance - the release of a defendant in a criminal case in which the court takes the defendant’s word that he or she will appear for a scheduled matter or when told to appear surety - a person who is primarily liable for the payment of another’s debt or the performance of another’s obligation Source: Black’s Law Dictionary