Having to sit in jail from the time you are arrested until your case is resolved is something that most people aren't prepared to do. In many cases, the court will set a hearing date for you to have a bail hearing. At that hearing, the court will decide if you need to put up money or other surety in order to get out of jail. In some cases, you won't even have a hearing because the bail amounts for the crime you are charged with are preset.
There are three ways that you can usually get out of jail after you are arrested. You can post bail, pay a bondsman or be released on your own recognizance. While each of these will get you out of jail, they are all a little different. You do have the right to have an attorney represent you when you are going to the bail hearing.
When you post bail, you give the court the entire amount of bail that was ordered. If you show up to all of your hearings until your case is resolved, you will receive the bail money back. If you miss any hearings, you will forfeit the bail money and won't get it back.
If you can't pay the full bail amount, you can use the services of a bail bondsman. In this case, you will pay the bondsman a specific amount of money. The bondsman will then give the court a bond that states you will show up for all of your hearings. The money you pay won't be returned to you, but if you don't show up to all hearings, you will have to worry about a bondsman coming after you because they will have to pay the full bail if they don't bring you in.
If you are released on your own recognizance, the court decided that you were trustworthy and likely to show up at your hearings. If you fail to do so, you will have a warrant issued for a failure to appear.
Source: FindLaw, "Getting Out of Jail after You Have Been Arrested," accessed June 24, 2016
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