Since they do not fully understand their rights, the booking process, and all the available options such as bail and outcomes, a lot of people who are arrested go into panic mode. With a little guidance, and some helpful information, you can relax and trust that you’ll be out of this situation soon enough, though it can seem like a daunting and confusing process. Today, we at Robert Sepulveda Bail Bonds would like to briefly share the general booking and bail process to help you feel a little less stress.
Does Booking Mean You are Going to Jail?
For any person being arrested, there are just about three possible outcomes that include:
1) Without the need for bail, the arrestee is released.
2) The arrestee is released on bail after being charged.
3) Until arraignment or until the case comes to a close, the arrestee is charged and kept in custody.
At almost any stage in their case, pre-conviction, arrestees can actually still qualify for release on bail, and few realize this. Immediately after being arrested, as well as after the court has issued your sentence, and right up until your arraignment, you can post bail. You have time to get the money together or work with a bail bonds agency that can help cover the costs if securing bail is the issue.
What is the Booking Process?
After being put in handcuffs and swept off to the local county jail, you may want to know what happens after that. A process called booking is what follows the arrest. Once you arrive at the jail and the legitimacy behind this process, this booking breakdown may help you to understand the ensuing steps that are outlined below.
1) Mug shot is taken
2) Personal information such as name, date of birth, height, weight, nationality, and so on are recorded.
3) Fingerprints are logged.
4) Personal items are inventoried and stored.
5) Evaluation of your health is performed.
6) You are placed in temporary detainment/ holding cell.
How Does a Judge Determine Bail?
State law determines exactly which holding option will apply to the arrestee in considering their situation and circumstances after the process. Potentially being dismissed or qualifying for immediate release without bail are smaller offenses such as disorderly conduct and larceny, for example. Bail may be required to get the offender out of serving time before arraignment, or the offense could be severe enough to not qualify for bail with other more severe offenses like domestic violence, armed robbery, or assault cases
What Does it Mean to Post Bail?
An amount will be decided upon and posted, and the person under arrest can then decide which options to take if the arrestee is given the option to post bail at this point. The arrestee can essentially pay right then and there and free themselves if the posted bail is within their financial possibility. The next step is to either contact friends and family for financial support, or get in touch with a bail bonds agency that will front the bail, and enter into a bond agreement that will still cost about 10% upfront of the overall set bail amount if the amount is out of their budget. To get yourself out of jail, and get back to your life, this second option of working with an agency is the fastest and surest way to get bail posted.
Bail Bond Services in Clovis, Reedley, Sanger, Selma, Atwater, Los Banos, Merced, Visalia, Porterville, Tulare, Hanford, Corcoran, Lemoore, Fresno and the Central Valley of California
If you need bail in the Greater Fresno, CA area, call in the professionals of Robert Sepulveda Bail Bonds and let us assist you!