An Alexander Grant study claims that private bail agents have a 0.8 percent fugitive rate versus 8.0 percent for public bail . A U.S. Department of Justice study of the 75 largest counties in 1990 found that only 14 percent of felony defendants released on surety bonds initially failed to appear in court versus 27 percent of those released through other methods . And at the end of one year the fugitive rates were 3 percent and 9.5 percent respectively. The Legal Status of Bail Enforcement. Their dominion is a continuance of the original imprisonment.
None is needed .
A state court could ignore this U.S. Supreme Court decision if it conflicted with a state statute, but most courts uphold sureties right to apprehend fugitives. The private bail bonding system has been so successful that this report proposes private bonding to privatize the probation and parole systems and to aid in restitution to victims of crime. These proposals are analyzed below.