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Comment by Aardwolf | Hacker News Reader

> He did not enter a plea and was released on a $2.25 million bond

I'm not familiar with the US system of bond. Is this payment a kind of fine that you don't get back, or a temporary payment? And what does it give you? I mean if prosecuted you get prison anyway, right?

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it's a temporary payment that gets returned when certain obligations are met (often at the end of trial when you're either free to go or going to prison). Bail also often comes with conditions like an ankle monitor, drug/alcohol testing, staying within a certain state... etc. Part of the idea is that you want that money back so you'll be on your best behavior and comply.

Tangentially, it's really important to be out on bail while your court case progresses. Access to lawyers, income, friends, support, research, etc is a critical factor in preparing your defense.

Here's a fun paper https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/695285

In the US, unless you have that much cash lying around, you have to borrow the money from a bail bondsman. They typically charge 10% for loaning you the money, and they're out the dough if you skip bail.

It’s temporary, yes. Basically just collateral to promise you’ll show up for the court hearings.

Often they’re paid through bondsman who finance bonds (you pay them a fee). Which also results in a bounty hunting industry for the people that do run away.

Also of note, if you can’t pay the fee or give the bondsman some collateral for his service, your court date may be many months or even years in the future and the date can be postponed many times along the way. So you will be in jail that whole time. If you’re given a prison sentence, time served is usually applied towards it. If you’re found innocent or otherwise not given a prison sentence, your life was just ruined. It’s kind of a bad deal but mostly hurts the poor so nobody cares to fix it.

Innocent until proven guilty is kind of a lie. The US has so many edge cases like this where our US Constitutional rights have been severely neutered.

There is some differences between bail and bond, but basically the same thing. Is a payment that lets you out of prison until trial under conditions. If you break conditions, payment is forfeited, but returned otherwise

This is because time to trial/actual trial itself can take a long time and there is generally dislike of keeping a person in confinement on the chance they are innocent.

It's temporary, yes. If you show up for your court date it's returned to you - it's collateral.

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