Bail Bondsman Job Description

In the legal world, court hearings, trials, bails and proceedings are a daily cup of tea. There are many people who make and enable the functioning of these legal tasks. Apart from lawyers and other jobs in these proceedings, there are other people that help in the functioning too. A bail bondsman is a person who is responsible for servicing bail bonds. He/She is an agent or person who makes the payment of the bail for an arrested criminal defendant in the court. This is in the form of cash or other assets, that acts as the surety agent for the arrested suspect. It is his/her (also known as bail bonding agent or bail agent) to make sure the suspect appears in court for the further trials and proceedings. In legal terms as per the Section 6 VAC 20-250-10 of the Regulations Relating to Property and Surety Bail Bondsmen, a "bail bondsman" means any person who is licensed by the Department who engages in the business of bail bonding, and is thereby authorized to conduct business in all courts of the Commonwealth.

Bail Bondsman Job Description & Requirements

Well, the history of this job as an occupation drives back in the colonial times, and has been a practice in the American legal system ever since.

Education and Other Required Skills
A training course certificate and a license are essential requirements. The training differs with different states. The candidate has to be at least 18 years of age and must have a high school diploma. A clean criminal background check and no prior criminal record is mandatory. Good knowledge in subjects like mathematics, social sciences, geography and accounting is preferred. Also a good command over other languages like Spanish, etc., will be an advantage. Because of the nature of the job, strong communication skills and a good physical health is required. They must have effective skills to communicate with law enforcement officers and criminals. This job may be stressful at times, so the candidate must be able to stay cool even in all kinds of situations.

Job Description
The job description is everything related to servicing bail bonds. Let us check in detail about the frame of work in this field.

• The key job is to arrange for the bail of the arrested suspect. The bail bondsman will pay a certain amount for releasing the suspect until the next hearing. He is the surety agent for the suspect to attend the proceedings whenever required.
• Usually, he/she will charge a fee of 10% of the total bail amount. Before taking over the case for any suspect, a thorough research is conducted about the same, because if he opts as the surety agent and the suspect does not turn up, the money invested in the bail amount for the suspect is lost.
• The bail bondsman agent will conduct complete research about the suspect for whom he is the agent. After this, he may decide to reject or to accept the bail case. If he decides to accept so, and posts the bond, and the suspect appears on the trail day, he gets the money on the bond back. If the suspect does not show up, the bail bondsman has to arrange to get the suspect in court, either by himself or with the help of bounty hunter or fugitive recovery agents.
• The court then will decide and give time to find and get the suspect in court. The number of days differs with every state.
• This job is suited for risk takers, there is a financial risk involved in this job. So they have these specific reliability standards that they use before accepting the case of any suspect. The bail bondsman will check the criminal record of his client, along with other factors like community, family, background, employment history, etc.
• It is important to keep track of the suspect and verify the whereabouts, sometimes even on a regular basis.
• Also, all related paperwork needs to be done very carefully and on time, since it requires to be submitted in the court.

These people are self employed. They can also work for a firm in the beginning for good experience first. Usually, they will be hired by insurance companies as general agents. Many work in groups and partnerships. When talking about the earnings, it will depend on the time and effort invested in this job. It also depends on the state and city that the bail bondsman is employed in. Career opportunities are growing in this field. However, this is not a regular job, it requires a lot of traveling even at odd hours. This also invites risks if correct verifications of the suspect are not done.

This job though sounds tedious, is growing and important in criminal justice. If you are the one brave on the nerves and have the passion for this work, a bail bondsman job is one good option.