What country are you in, and how do they secure attendance at court?
Bail is more or less a promise to show up. If you do not show up, the bond is forfeit.
Example: Your judge sets your bond at $100,000. You can either pay a percentage (typically about 12%) to a bonding company, which charges a fee. That 12% you will never see again. The bonding company provides a bond. If you do not show up, then that bond is forfeit. However the bonding company secured the bond through a surety company, and the surety will seek the bond from the bail company and its owners. Meanwhile, for bonds that large, the bail company has sought security from friends or relatives of the accused, so the bail company will try to collect those.
In addition, the bail company will send bounty hunters, as paying the bounty and delivering the accused back to the jail releases the bond and saves the bail company owners from financial ruin.
Or you could post your own bond, in cash. Most folks do not have $100k lying around, though. So maybe family members post a property bond, which means that if your parents have sufficient equity in their home, it can be security against you showing up. If you fail to show, then your parents could lose their home.
So what country are you in? Looks like an English flag. I though that in England you still post money or a surety to get out of jail and guarantee your appearance in court?
I’m in the UK mate. England to be precise - there are
some differences in the laws & legal systems between England, Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland, but the four Home Nations all sing from the same hymn sheet (although historically NI is far more socially conservative than the other nations (& also very sectarian), & thus has been several decades behind the much more socially liberal / progressive England).
No, there is no requirement anywhere in the UK to post some form of surety to avoid being placed “on remand” (in custody) & to guarantee your appearance in court at your trial. The decision depends on numerous factors - nature of the crime, input from the police (or other relevant LE agency), CPS (Crown Prosecution Service) as to whether they think the accused is a flight risk, will reoffend ahead if the trial if bailed etc.
You might have to surrender your passport, there might be conditions attached, eg living at a certain address, avoid certain places (eg former parter’s place of residence if it’s a domestic abuse charge etc), but you cannot
buy your temporary freedom.
If you abscond before your trial (which very few do), then State LE agencies will be on the lookout for you, not commercial, profit-orientated businesses. We have some privatisation of the criminal justice system, eg commercial firms running low category prisons, prisoner transport to & from court etc, but when it comes to the investigation of & the pursuit of criminals or suspects, this is an entirely a State matter conducted by State-employed professionals with clear oversight & codes of practice etc.
No fucking way would the British population tolerate random weirdos like “Dog the Bounty Hunter”
et al running around the streets with guns & handcuffs playing Junior G-Man / GI Joe. It’s not just us either - as far as I’m aware, the one & only other nation that allows bounty hunters is The Philippines … a former US colonial possession & very much a US client state for most of it’s post-independence history.
In short, it’s all about cultural values & norms as to why we have different systems mate. Same as why our healthcare models are so vastly different - but that’s another debate.