After an arrest, some inmates receive massive bail amounts of five figures, or more, while others get to go home without many costs at all. However, it isn’t luck that some inmates can secure their release on their own recognizance because of their generally upstanding character.
During your initial bail trial, a judge thoroughly reviews your personal history. Everything from who you have worked for to past arrests all gets included in the discussion.
Are You Dangerous?
The judge has a responsibility to the rest of the public not to send you back out if you can potentially harm someone else. If you get deemed a flight risk or someone who will take the opportunity to flee, they’re going to keep you behind bars.
However, if you can prove that you have remained a resident for a long time and that you have committed yourself to the community, you are more likely to get released without bail. A lifetime pastor of a church has a better chance over a career mugger, for example.
What is the Alleged Crime?
Repeat offenders are precisely what the courts are actively searching for in a person. If this was your first run-in with law enforcement, you have a better chance of getting released. However, how frequently a crime gets committed matters less than what the charges stay.
If, for instance, you committed a hate crime or an act of terror, they likely don’t care that you’ve never gotten arrested before. However, if it’s a minor misdemeanor or something that didn’t endanger the public, you have improved odds for getting released on your own recognizance until trial.
How Does a Judge Make the Determination?
Some communities have turned to computer models and data to make wiser release decisions. Other areas, however, may utilize pretrial officers who can better advise the judge on what to decide.
Many judges, on the other hand, continue to handle things the traditional way, by basing their decisions off of what you tell them and the information that they hold on file. Either way, a release on recognizance is a possibility, determined by what it is you allegedly did.
