Booking & Bail

After arrest, a criminal suspect is usually taken into police custody and “booked,” or “processed.” During booking, a police officer typically:

Takes the criminal suspect’s personal information (i.e., name, date of birth, physical characteristics)
Records information about the suspect’s alleged crime
Performs a record search of the suspect’s criminal background
Fingerprints, photographs, and searches the suspect
Confiscates any personal property carried by the suspect (i.e., keys, purse), to be returned upon the suspect’s release
Places the suspect in a police station holding cell or local jail

Note: persons arrested for minor offenses may merely be given a written citation and released, after signing the citation and promising to appear in court at a later date.

For criminal suspects who are placed in jail, the first priority is usually getting out. Except when very serious crimes are charged, a suspect usually can obtain pre-trial release through bail or “own recognizance” release.

Bail is a process through which an arrested criminal suspect is allowed to pay money in exchange for his or her release from police custody, usually after booking. As a condition of release, the suspect promises to appear in court for all scheduled criminal proceedings -- including the arraignment, preliminary hearing, pre-trial motions hearing, and trial.

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If an arrestee is not allowed to post bail at the police station immediately after booking, a judge may decide later, at a separate hearing or the arraignment, whether to allow release on bail. The bail amount may be predetermined, through a “bail schedule,” or the judge may set a monetary figure based on:

The seriousness of the crime
The suspect’s criminal record
The danger that the suspect’s release might pose to the community
The suspect’s ties to family, community, and employment

A suspect or the suspect’s friends and family may put up the full bail amount as set by the court, or a “bond” may be posted in lieu of the full amount. A bond is a written guarantee that the full bail amount will be paid if the suspect fails to appear as promised. Bonds are usually obtained through a bail bond agency that charges a fee for posting the bond (usually about 10 percent of the bail amount). Bail bond agencies may also demand additional collateral before posting the bond, since the agency will be responsible for paying the full bail amount if the suspect “jumps bail” and fails to appear as promised.

When a criminal suspect is arrested, booked, and granted “own recognizance” release, no bail money needs to be paid to the court, and no bond is posted. The suspect is merely released after promising, in writing, to appear in court for all upcoming proceedings. Most state criminal courts impose certain conditions on own recognizance release, prohibiting the suspect from leaving the area while proceedings are ongoing, or requiring that the suspect contact the court periodically while the case is ongoing.

As with setting bail, when deciding whether to grant own recognizance release a criminal court judge considers:

The seriousness of the crime
The suspect’s criminal record
The danger that the suspect’s release might pose to the community
The suspect’s ties to family, community, and employment

If a suspect who has been released on “own recognizance” fails to appear in criminal court as scheduled, he or she is subject to immediate arrest, and any chance for bail release is all but eliminated.

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