Some states have curbed the use of cash bail, to some degree, but others are holding to the traditional approach. The federal court for the Northern District of Florida, based in Tallahassee, has modified its use of cash bail, but that’s not statewide. The Northern District does not allow cash bail to be set in excess of a defendant’s ability to pay. The New Yorker wrote in 2014 about a notorious example of a defendant unable to pay cash bond. For-profit bail bond companies keep a percentage of a defendant’s bail if he or she appears in court as required, and they return the rest.

Source: Los Angeles Times November 23, 2021 12:07 UTC