In today’s day and age, where parents are often working full time, grandparents are more involved than ever in the lives of their grandchildren. In some cases, grandparents might serve as a grandchild’s legal guardian, and in others, they may be their closest confidante. Unsurprisingly, this leads to many situations where a grandchild who has been arrested chooses to reach out to a grandparent as their first call for help. A grandparent receiving such a call from a beloved grandchild might feel scared and helpless. However, they are steps they can quickly take to help their grandchild and give them the best possible chance at settling the matter without facing serious criminal consequences, including bailing them out of jail, which a grandparent or anyone else is permitted to do. Below, our experienced criminal lawyers in Philadelphia at The Law Offices of Lloyd Long explain when and how a grandparent can bail their grandchild out of jail and how a skilled attorney can help with bail proceedings and beyond.
How Does the Philadelphia Bail System Work?
Occasionally, for minor crimes or infractions, the police may simply release your grandchild with a citation indicating a court date on it. However, most of the time, when the police suspect your grandchild of committing a crime, they will place them under arrest and transport them to the local police station for the booking process. During this process, they will be photographed and fingerprinted and their biographical information will be collected. What happens next will depend on whether your grandchild is a juvenile or an adult.
Juvenile Bail
The juvenile justice system functions as an entirely separate entity from the adult justice system in Pennsylvania, and there is no monetary bail in the juvenile system. Typically, juveniles are released to the care of their parent or guardian, sometimes with non-monetary conditions like attending counseling or wearing a GPS ankle monitor. Only in extraordinary cases where the juvenile is accused of a very serious crime and may be a threat to the public will the juvenile intake office recommend that the juvenile is detained in a juvenile detention center until the charges are resolved. Such a decision can be challenged, and you should start the process by contacting a skilled Philadelphia juvenile crimes lawyer like those at The Law Offices of Lloyd Long as soon as possible after your juvenile grandchild’s arrest and detainment.
Adult Bail
In the adult justice system, a bail hearing for those who were arrested will be held within 72 hours of their arrest, but often much sooner. Your will definitely want an experienced Bucks County criminal defense lawyer by your grandchild’s side for this hearing, where a judge will decide whether you can be released or must remain behind bars for the duration of the case. For this reason, it is vital that you contact a skilled Philadelphia bail hearing attorney like those at The Law Offices of Lloyd Long as soon as possible after your grandchild’s arrest. The sooner you get in touch with us, the quicker we can work to assess the specifics of your grandchild’s situation and work to make the best argument at the bail hearing for you to be released on little to no bail, based on the factors we know the judge to consider like the nature and severity of the charges against your grandchild, their criminal history or lack thereof, and their ties to the local community.
Types of Bail the Judge Can Choose to Set for Your Grandchild in Philadelphia
Only in the cases where your grandchild has been charged with the most serious offenses like murder and where the judge thinks they could be a threat to the public or a flight risk will the judge choose to detain your grandchild until the underlying charges against them are resolved. On the other end of the scale, the judge can choose to release your grandchild on their recognizance, meaning without any conditions but returning to court as required. In some cases, the judge will choose to impose non-monetary bail conditions, such your grandchild attending mandatory drug or alcohol counseling and staying out of further trouble as a condition of their release.
If the judge decides to set monetary bail, they will base the amount on the state guideline’s as well as the arguments by your grandchild’s attorney at the bail hearing regarding the factors listed above. As noted at the outset of this article, one monetary bail has bene set, grandparents are permitted to pay it on behalf of their grandchildren or anyone else. There are three different ways this can go. First, you can simply put up the amount of bail set by the judge in cash or in collateral like property. So long as your grandchild appears for court as required, you will regain your deposit at the end of their case.
Of course, bail is often set quite high, and many folks cannot afford to pay it even after a skilled bail hearing attorney like those at The Law Offices of Lloyd Long gets the judge to set it as low as possible. In some cases, the court may allow your grandchild to be released on an unsecured bail bond, meaning that they do not have to out up any money upfront, but they do have to sign an agreement stating that they will be liable for the full bail amount if they fail to appear. In other cases, you can use the services of a bail bondsman, who will put up a surety bond with the court on your grandchild’s behalf in exchange for you paying them a nominal amount, usually 10% of the bail amount. However, if your grandchild does not appear in court as required, the bondsman will come after you and any other co-signers for the full amount.
If Your Grandchild Has Been Arrested, Call Our Skilled Philadelphia Bail Attorneys Today
Because the bail or detention hearing will occur very quickly after your grandchild’s arrest, it is imperative that they or a loved one like you reach out to an experienced attorney like those at The Law Offices of Lloyd Long as soon as possible. If you are a grandparent looking for advice on how to bail someone how of jail in Philadelphia, we can help. We will leave no stone unturned working to get your grandchild released on little to no bail, and then will set out sights on getting the underlying charges against them downgraded or dismissed. For a free consultation, call us today at (215) 302-0171.