Vehicle Code 31

If a person is arrested for violating Vehicle Code 31, the person has been arrested for giving false information to a police officer. This is a misdemeanor offense with a bail amount set at $5,000. The bail amount is the amount of money that the defendant will have to pay in order to get out of jail, unless the officers decide to let the defendant go on his or her own recognizance.

When a person gets out of jail on his or her own recognizance, the courts are basically saying that they trust that the person will return to court in order to fulfill his or her legal obligation. Often, however, the officers choose to require a bail for the release of a defendant.

When a defendant needs assistance paying the bail amount, the defendant will generally call upon a bail bondsman. Bail bondsmen are available to provide the full amount of the bail in the form of a bond. When that amount is paid, the defendant is released into the custody of the bail bonding agency.

In the event that the defendant fails to show up for a court date or fails to fulfill the full legal obligation, then bail bonding agency will track down the defendant to take him or her into court for trial. The U.S. is the only country in the world that allows bounty hunters to track down defendants that fail to appear in court.

Defendants, of course, pay for the bail bonding services of an agency. Most agencies charge a bail bond fee of about ten percent of the total cost of the bail. If the bail is $10,000, then the defendant would pay the bail bonding agency $1,000 for its services. This money can be paid by credit card, from loans, cash, personal check or even through the use of collateral funds, such as a house or stocks.