Chapter 837: Working as a Bounty Hunter
The crime rate in the United States is so high that there are not enough prisons. So here we use the "bail pending trial"
The bail system is a system that allows a criminal suspect, once arrested by the police, to avoid being held in prison while awaiting trial by paying a sufficient amount of bail. This saves the state the expense of incarcerating the prisoner, while allowing the prisoner to remain free. If the suspect appears in court on the day of the trial, the bail is fully refunded. However, if the suspect does not appear, the bail is forfeited by the court.
The bail amount is not fixed. It is determined by the financial situation of the suspect, with higher bail amounts for the wealthy and lower bail amounts for the poor. In theory, even a murderer can pay bail and leave prison: as long as you are rich enough!
Basically, unless they are sentenced to death, all criminal suspects are eligible for "reasonable bail." Even murderers can stay out of jail by appealing their convictions and paying bail before they are actually sentenced to death.
Of course, these suspects released on bail aren't free; they're required to wear electronic anklets, surrender their passports, and be confined to a specific living area, much like Ant-Man in the Marvel movie "Ant-Man 2." The Princess Royal is currently facing the same treatment in Canada.
Just a few years ago, a wealthy second-generation Chinese woman named Li in San Francisco was arrested on suspicion of conspiring with her boyfriends to kill her ex-boyfriend, the father of her two children.
The court set a staggering $35 million bail for her. However, the Li family claimed they didn't have enough cash and offered to pay the bail in the form of real estate. California law requires that if bail isn't paid in cash, the required amount is double the original sentence. So, in the end, the Chinese-American surnamed Li paid $70 million in bail, equivalent to nearly 500 million RMB! And she was released from prison.
And her bail isn't the highest ever. The highest was set in 2003 by Texas real estate tycoon Robert Durst, who was released on bail for $3 billion! Back then!
By the way, although the case was that 'a rich second-generation man surnamed Li planned the murder because he was afraid of losing custody of his two children', she was still acquitted three years later. The elite lawyer she hired for millions of dollars was not exaggerated.
This incident also fully demonstrates the "fairness and justice" of the American law - the law serves whoever has money.
The reason this happens is also related to American law. The standard for conviction here is: it is better to let a thousand people go than to arrest one person by mistake. Unless someone can provide 100% direct evidence to prove a person's guilt, they are considered innocent.
For example, Xiao Peng and Fabian went to Pascal's house together, and Pascal was killed by one of them. However, unless there is irrefutable evidence, as long as the possibility that the other person is the real murderer cannot be ruled out 100%, neither Xiao Peng nor Fabian can be convicted.
In the West, the consequences of having a good lawyer can be huge. While courts here assign free public defenders to suspects who can't afford legal fees, these public defenders are often motivated by the steady paycheck and are often relatively inadequate. Crucially, nearly all public defenders handle hundreds of cases, so how can they focus their attention on just one? The key to not being able to compete with the wealthy in the West is fear of their lawyers.
The rich can pay sky-high bail to get out of jail, but what about the poor?
In fact, they don't have to worry, because there are special "bail bond companies" in the United States - this is a legal existence.
The defendants only need to pay 8%-10% of the total bail amount to the bail bond company as a service fee, and they can be released on bail. Of course, they cannot get this money back, and it will not be returned to them just because they appear in court.
Until the court hearing, these bail bond companies do not actually need to pay any money to the court. If the suspect appears in court that day, they will earn the 10% service fee. If the suspect does not appear in court, they will have to pay the full bail to the court.
Bail bonds companies also have agreements with criminal suspects - they are allowed to monitor the suspects, and the bond companies have the power to bring the suspects back to court. If the suspect escapes, they can use any means to capture the suspect - in this respect, they have more power than the police.
After all, the police cannot enforce the law in other states, but people from bond companies can.
Generally speaking, when a suspect escapes, these surety companies will hire people to capture him, the so-called "bounty hunters". There are now tens of thousands of people in the United States who specialize in this profession, and they make a living by capturing fugitives in exchange for bounties.
And they enforce the law more freely than the police.
The police need a search warrant to go to someone's home to arrest them, but many states in the United States have no clear arrest regulations for bounty hunters at all: so they can break into the suspect's home at will and arrest people with court permission, which is truly "no taboos."
In fact, Americans support bounty hunters. Over 90% of fugitives are apprehended by bounty hunters each year, leading to the public's belief that these hunters contribute significantly to improving public safety. Some even consider them heroes. Perhaps the most famous bounty hunter in the US is Duane Chapman. He was even invited to star in a reality show dedicated to his and his team's pursuit of fugitives, a show that ran for nine seasons! How many popular American TV series have even managed to capture nine seasons? His story was even made into a Hollywood movie, giving him the air of a legendary hero.
But from an objective perspective, Xiao Peng wasn't impressed by these so-called "bounty hunters": "If you really have good public security, why do you need them?" Besides, these bounty hunters themselves create a lot of social problems.
Who would be a good person in this profession? They used all sorts of kidnapping and violence during the arrests.
Take Duane Chapman, for example. He was actually a fugitive. During a fugitive hunt, he broke the law and was thrown into prison. Later, after being released on bail, he did not show up for trial and became a fugitive himself.
And he continued to work as a bounty hunter and became a fugitive catching fugitives
Xiao Peng didn't expect that he would inexplicably get the bounty hunter's bonus and become a bounty hunter?
I made this money suddenly!
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