Bail bondsman

a person who guarantees bail for prisoners, usually charging them a 10% nonrefundable deposit, and who is responsible for paying bail if they flee Bail enforcement agent another term for bounty hunter

Bounty

money paid for the return of a criminal, typically ten to twenty percent of the total bail bond

Custodian

term for a person put up for bail instead of money (under old British and pre-constitutional American law) who could be punished - even hanged - in the accused's place if he fled

Eighth Amendment

Constitutional Amendment that guarantees the accused the right to reasonable bail

FTA

failure-to-appear, the technical term for skipping out on bail

Fugitive

from the latin fugere, meaning "to flee," the word has been with us since Middle English, but could vanish at any moment

Fugitive recovery agent

another term for bounty hunter

Harvey, Domino

daughter of English actor Laurence Harvey, who left her privileged background to become a Los Angeles bounty hunter; she died of drug overdose in 2005, shortly after being portrayed by Kiera Knightley in the film of her life Illinois the only state where bounty hunting is not allowed at all, and where a bond agent of another state may not operate even with a warrant

Judas

bounty hunter slang for a person who feels wronged by the accused (often because they put up the collateral for the skipped bail) and is willing to rat them out

Midnight run

bounty hunter slang for an easy capture, which also lent its name to a 1988 film starring Robert De Niro

NABEA

the National Association of Bail Enforcement Agents, a group that provides services and legislative advocacy for the bounty hunter community

1984 Bail Reform Act

act allowing courts to hold prisoners without bail if they are too dangerous to release

Power of attorney

what a bounty hunter must acquire from a bail bondsman (which was signed over to him by the prisoner) before hunting down an accused

Responsibility Act of 1999

a failed congressional bill that sought to impose on bounty hunters the same civil rights restrictions that apply to police

Skips

informal term for people who fail to make their court dates

Skiptracing

the act of tracking someone down, usually through indirect methods such as hiring investigators or outsourcing to debt collectors

Taylor v. Taintor

an 1873 Supreme Court case often cited as having established that a bounty hunter has greater rights than a normal police officer, such as to enter a house without a warrant, or to apprehend a fugitive without reading him his Miranda rights