Word: bail
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...Phoenix murders have turned a light onto a dark corner of the criminal-justice system. Bounty hunters are largely independent contractors hired by the nation's estimated $4 billion bail-bond industry to track down criminal defendants who jump bail. Lately, they have taken to calling themselves "bail-enforcement agents" or "fugitive-recovery agents." There are more than 10,000 nationwide, and last year they found tens of thousands of fugitives, generally taking home a fee of about 10% of the bail in question. The profession dates back in the U.S. to the days of the Wild West, when shorthanded...
...sets the standard of conduct for many in the field but not the geographic boundaries; bounty hunters roam from Manhattan to Southern California, renegades of the American criminal-justice system. Incredibly, only a handful of states have licensing requirements for bounty hunters. "The business is wide open," says Phoenix bail agent Linda Ownbey. "Anybody can get in, and anything can happen...
Because they are not government officers but private actors enforcing the contractual terms of the bail bond, bounty hunters generally don't need court orders to burst into private homes, nor do they have to observe constitutional niceties like Miranda warnings. An 1873 Supreme Court decision held that bounty hunters may pursue a defendant "into another State; may arrest him on the Sabbath; and, if necessary, may break and enter his house for that purpose." Says Arizona lawyer Gary Klahr: "In Phoenix, it's harder now to repossess a car--you're supposed to alert the police first--than...
...searching a private home after the occupant produced an ID showing he was not the man wanted. Texas requires bounty hunters to obtain arrest warrants and be accompanied by peace officers, security officers or licensed private investigators. Curbs have not come easily. Says Gene Newman, president of the Professional Bail Agents of the U.S.: "Whenever we try to pass laws, we hit a lot of resistance from Rambo wannabes who call their legislators...
...California Motel 6, won a $1.15 million verdict. Despite last week's deaths, damage awards like these are inexorably exerting a civilizing effect on a profession with a reputation for cutting legal corners. "The days of kicking doors and slapping whores are over," says Don Floyd, owner of Northeast Bail Bonds in Atlanta, who tries to be selective about the bounty hunters he employs. Otherwise, he says, "I couldn't defend all the lawsuits I'd have...