Most bond agreements include travel restrictions, confining you to a specific geographic area such as your county or state. These limitations are designed to ensure your availability for court dates. If travel is necessary, you must seek prior approval from the court or your bail bondsman.
Judges consider 13 specific factors when choosing conditions of release. Those conditions include the nature of the crime charged, the person's ties to the community, the person's financial resources, and the safety of others.
WHAT ARE THE FACTORS THAT A JUDGE LOOKS AT WHEN DETERMINING BAIL AMOUNT? The defendant's flight risk. The defendant's criminal history. The severity of the alleged crime. The defendant's ties to the community. The defendant's employment status and financial resources. The defendant's mental health and substance abuse history.
Bailing someone out of jail who has a history of untrustworthy behavior can create headaches. You're essentially agreeing to put up 10 percent of a bail bond that could be tens of thousands — or even hundreds of thousands — of dollars. If they fail to show, then you went to all that extra trouble for nothing.
Article I, section 7 says: “All persons before conviction shall be bailable by sufficient sureties, except for capital offenses when the proof is evident or the presumption great.” Minnesota no longer has the death penalty, so all defendants have a right to have bail set.
Currently, eight states do not have a bail bond system: Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Nebraska, Oregon, Washington D. C., and Wisconsin. Illinois not only bans bail bond agents, but attorneys and some state employees are not permitted to post bail for defendants either.