Bounty Hunting
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When people are arrested for committing a crime, they often post bail in order to avoid jail time before their trial. Because most people cannot personally afford the high cost of bail, many turn to bail bonds companies to cover their bail in exchange for a fee. In the event that someone skips bail by failing to appear in court, the bail bonds company can be held liable for covering the entire cost of his/her bail. To avoid this happening, bail bonds companies rely on bounty hunters to locate, apprehend, and recover so-called bail jumpers or skips. Also known as bail enforcement or fugitive recovery officers, most bounty hunters work as independent contractors and usually receive 10 to 15 percent of the posted bail as a fee for successfully recovering the skip.
In 2003, some estimates placed the number of bounty hunters working in the United States at 14,000 to 17,000. A great many of these individuals worked on a part-time basis and held other jobs in addition to working in the field of fugitive recovery. According to National Institute for Bail Enforcement figures, bounty hunters were responsible for bringing in more than 52,000 fugitives in 2005.
Although a growing number of states have required bounty hunters to obtain licenses or meet certain professional standards, they are not required to produce warrants as police do when pursuing fugitives. This is because bounty hunters enforce private contracts with bail bonds companies as opposed to laws. As the June 19, 1999 issue of The Economist explains, "Bounty-hunters have more power than the police, with far less training and accountability. A bounty-hunter can enter or break into a fugitive's house without a warrant, pursue a fugitive across state lines without worrying about extradition, and arrest, detain and transport a fugitive without many of the restrictions placed on ordinary law-enforcement officials by the constitution. These powers are not granted by the state; they emanate from the private contract between the bondsman and the defendant. The courts have consistently found that bond is an extension of jail; the bondsman, and the bounty-hunter as his agent, have the same powers as a jailer to control the movements of a defendant."
In mid-2003, some estimates placed the number of bounty hunters operating in the United States in the 14,000 to 17,000 range. This was up from estimates of 12,000 in 2001, approximately 7,000 in 1999, and 2,500 to 5,000 in 1997. This rapid growth was due in part to overcrowding in the nation's prisons that led to lower bail rates, a greater number of people who post bail, and a higher number of bail jumpers. In its October 28, 1996 issue, U.S. News & World Report included the occupation of bounty hunter in its listing of hot jobs for the future. However, despite strong growth, by the middle years of the twenty-first century's first decade, most bounty hunters also held other jobs or worked for more than one bail bonds company. Some industry observers indicate that the number of full-time bounty hunters is only in the hundreds.
In the June 19, 1999 issue of The Economist, the University of Illinois Law Review's John Chamberlin provided statistics that revealed how effective bounty hunters were at doing their jobs. He explained that "defendants under the supervision of a bondsman were more likely to show up in court (85 percent) than all other released felony defendants, even those who paid their own bail (78 percent). And when defendants failed to appear in court, those who were the responsibility of a bondsman were more likely to be returned to the court (80 percent) than were those who had posted their own bail and were tracked down by ordinary police (64 percent)."
During the mid-years of the twenty-first century's first decade, the bounty hunting trade was completely unregulated in about half of the United States, where bounty hunters were not required to hold a professional license or insurance policy, undergo a background check, demonstrate psychological stability, be a certain age, or demonstrate that they had obtained any training that qualified them for their job. In fact, bounty hunters in most of these states were able to work even if they had criminal records.
However, 12 states required bounty hunters to obtain a license. These included Indiana, Nevada, Mississippi, New York, South Dakota, Connecticut, Arizona, Utah, Iowa, Louisiana, California, and West Virginia. Seven states—New Hampshire, Georgia, Colorado, Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas, and Oklahoma—imposed restrictions on bounty hunters in areas such as age, criminal history, training, and experience. Bounty hunting was illegal in Wisconsin, Illinois, Oregon, and Kentucky. A few states, including Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina, prohibited the use of freelance agents, meaning that bail bonds companies could only use regular employees to locate and recover fugitives.
When someone is suspected of breaking the law and is arrested, they often have the option of posting bail until they must appear in court as opposed to waiting in jail. To cover the required bail amount, suspects usually seek out a bail bonds company that will post the 10 percent of bail they need to avoid incarceration. This 10 percent is refunded to the bonds company if the suspect appears in court. Suspects must pay a fee for this service, usually 10 percent of the bail amount, and instead often obtain the money from a friend or relative. In some cases, suspects use their house or other valuable items as collateral.
In addition to paying a fee to the bail bonds company, suspects sign paperwork agreeing to give up many of their rights in the event that they do not appear in court, a situation known as bail forfeiture. In such cases, bond companies...
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