If you have been arrested, the next course of action is to hire a bail bond agent to help ensure you are released from custody before trial. However, it would be best if you didn’t assume that the judge would grant you bail after being arrested on criminal grounds. Sometimes, the court may deny you bail, and for a reason. But when can bail be denied? Why is bail not granted in some instances? Let’s find out!
Threat to public
Bail is only given to suspects who don’t pose any apparent threat to the community. Persons charged on antisocial or violent grounds can be denied bail. For instance, if arrested on terrorism grounds, you could put people’s lives in jeopardy on release. There will be a significant public outcry that will automatically land you back in jail if bail is granted to such a person.
A mentally unstable defendant may be deemed unfit for bail. In this case, the individual may be a threat to himself too. So instead of bail, the judge orders a mental health analysis to ascertain the defendant’s mental state.
The severity of the offense
No judge is comfortable giving bail to a defendant charged with murder, armed robbery or rape. If the evidence proves the action, granting bail will only put society at risk. In this case, there is a legal basis to deny bail.
Flight risk
In many instances, people flee the country after being granted bail to avoid trial. It’s challenging to ascertain whether a person will flee the region once granted bail, and this calls for proper discretion from the judge. Looking at a person’s previous criminal records is one way of ascertaining whether they are eligible for bail. In this case, if they have previously tried to flee the court after being charged with a crime, then bail could be denied.
Repeat offenses
After an arrest, the judge reviews all your criminal records before giving bail. If there are a series of arrests made on the same crime, the judge may deny bail. Multiple arrests on the same grounds prove that you haven’t learned from your mistakes.
However, this is subject to the type of crime committed. For instance, a person arrested for serious crimes such as rape, murder or robbery with violence multiple times may not be eligible for bail. But if the defendant is arrested for petty crimes such as being drunk and disorderly, say for the second time, bail can be approved.
Failing to show in court
A defendant who misses a single hearing can be denied bail — repeated failure to attend a hearing proves that the matter isn’t being taken seriously so that the judge may deny bail.
Bail approval is not a right. That means that the judge can either grant or deny you bail after serious considerations. Before the arrest, we all have plenty of rights, but these rights and freedoms are taken away after an arrest is made. A judge has a right to deny bail to anyone deemed unsafe to the public or if you have repeatedly committed the same crime.