How Bounty Hunting Works

Yes, bounty hunting is legal, although state laws vary with regard to the rights of bounty hunters. In general, they have greater authority to arrest than even the local police. "When the defendant signs the bail bond contract, they do something very important. They waive their constitutional rights," says Burton. "They agree that they can be arrested by the bail bond agent. And they waive extradition, allowing bondsmen to take them to any state."

All the bounty hunter needs to make an arrest is a copy of the "bail piece" (the paperwork indicating that the person is a fugitive) and, in some states, a certified copy of the bond. He or she doesn't need a warrant, can enter private property unannounced and doesn't have to read a fugitive his or her Miranda Rights before making the arrest. But there are rules and regulations to the job. The bail bond contract gives bounty hunters the right to enter the home of a fugitive, but only after establishing without a doubt that the person lives there. They cannot enter the homes of friends or family members to look for the fugitive.

Some states require that bounty hunters be licensed; other states require that bounty hunters register with them. Only a handful of states -- Kentucky, Illinois and Oregon -- prohibit bounty hunters entirely from making bail arrests. In these states, bounty hunters need to have a court order. Then, the judge will usually order the local police to arrest the fugitive, and the bounty hunter can request that the prisoner be remanded into his or her custody.

The one thing a bounty hunter can never do is take the hunt outside of the United States. Bounty hunters can be arrested -- even shot -- if they stray across international borders. (See the sidebar in the next section for more on this).

Criminals don't run from the law with the aim of getting caught. Because they don't hide in plain sight, bounty hunters have to be resourceful. They must research their subjects thoroughly before making any moves. Usually they start by searching through databases of addresses, phone numbers, license plate numbers and Social Security numbers to find the fugitive's last whereabouts.

Once they hit the streets, bounty hunters stake out the fugitive's address or frequent haunts. They may search through the person's mail, trace telephone calls or talk to people in the area who might have seen him or her. Some bounty hunters use spy gadgets like exit-sign video cameras and night vision goggles to track down skips.

Many bounty hunters carry guns, mace or other weapons. But by far the most valuable weapon a bounty hunter can possess is the element of surprise. Often, that means showing up at a fugitive's door in the middle of the night or posing as a UPS delivery person or meter reader to gain access to the person's residence.

Pursuing criminals can be a dangerous business, and the threat always hangs heavy in the mind of a bounty hunter. "It's very difficult for a wife to say to her husband when he's walking out the door at midnight with a shotgun, 'Have a nice day at the office.' There's the worry factor," says Burton.

But violence doesn't usually play into the equation -- first, because the most violent criminals don't get out on bail; and second, because most don't put up a fight. Less than 3 to 4 percent of the people Burton goes after resist arrest, and most of them do nothing more than try to run or squirm away.

Unless their life is in jeopardy, true bounty hunters will never kill a fugitive. The reason is part integrity and part finances -- they need to "bring 'em back alive" to earn their share of the bail money. Bounty hunters can't even "rough up" fugitives. Jails won't accept them with broken bones or large bruises because of the legal liability.

Bob Burton is one of the most respected bounty hunters in the country. He's been in the business for 25 years, during which time he has brought thousands of bail jumpers to justice. Last year alone, his agents made 20,000 arrests.

A typical bounty hunt for Burton begins with a call from a bail bondsman. He then goes to the bondsman's office and gets a power of attorney, which gives him the authority to arrest the suspect on behalf of the bail bondsman. Burton also collects personal information on the accused, such as Social Security number, date of birth and car make and model.

"Then we start looking for the Judas," Burton explains. The Judas is that one person who has been scorned by the accused and is now willing to reveal the skip's whereabouts. The Judas can be a drug dealer, an ex-girlfriend, the person who put up the bail collateral and who now feels betrayed or even the person's mother or father.

Like any effective predator, Burton must know his prey. He finds out where the skip likes to hang out, traces the skip's phone calls and pores through his or her credit card statements. Sometimes, Burton tips bouncers or motel clerks anywhere from $20 to $300 to call him when the fugitive shows up.

Burton says he has the advantage over the police because he doesn't approach his intended catch wearing a police uniform and badge. "The fugitive drops his guard because he's not looking for the bounty hunter -- the guy sitting next to him at the bar quietly calling for backup," he says.

Staking out a fugitive can be an excruciatingly long process. Burton and his team can wait for hours or even days at a location. Once he has found his man or woman, the arrest can go in one of several different ways. "When we're going to pick up a 25-year-old girl who has bounced a check, we don't go into raid mode. We say, 'Look honey, come with us. We don't want to put handcuffs on you,'" says Burton.

On the other end of the extreme are the more hardened criminals who resist arrest. Sometimes, Burton and his team try to distract the fugitive, for example by jamming his car door lock with paper so he has to fumble around for a few minutes. In other cases, they have to break down a door and take the person into custody.

Then Burton cuffs the suspect, puts him or her in the back seat and drives the skip to a jail in the county in which he or she was originally arrested. Burton has driven fugitives thousands of miles across the country.

Bounty hunting originated in England hundreds of years ago. Back in the 13th century, bail was a person, not an amount of money. An individual was designated custodian of the accused, and if the accused did not return to face his penalty, the custodian could be hanged in his place.

During colonial times, America relied upon the bail system set up by the government of England. In 1679, the British Parliament passed the Habeas Corpus Act, which for the first time guaranteed that an accused person could be released from prison on monetary bail. It stated:

This right was later written into the U.S. Constitution. The Eighth Amendment to the Constitution prohibited the setting of excessive bail, and the Judiciary Act of 1789, which established the U.S. judicial court system, defined the terms for bailable offenses.

Federal bail law remained unchanged until the Bail Reform Act of 1966, which allowed the prisoner to be released with as little bail as possible to secure his or her return for trial (although the 1984 Bail Reform Act allowed the courts to hold accused persons without bail if they were deemed too dangerous for release). For more information on bail, see How Bail Works.

The bounty hunter was given broad authority starting in 1873 with the U.S. Supreme Court case, Taylor v. Taintor. The case gave bounty hunters the authority to act as agents of bail bondsmen. Bounty hunters on the trail of a bail jumper could "pursue him into another state" and, if necessary, "break and enter his house for that purpose." Today, states have their own restrictions when it comes to bounty hunting, but most states give bounty hunters the freedom to pursue and arrest bail jumpers within and across their borders.

For more information on bounty hunting and related topics, check out the links on the next page.