A bounty hunter is a private agent working for
bail bond
Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Bail is the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when required.
In some countries ...
s who captures fugitives or criminals for a commission or
bounty
Bounty or bounties commonly refers to:
* Bounty (reward), an amount of money or other reward offered by an organization for a specific task done with a person or thing
Bounty or bounties may also refer to:
Geography
* Bounty, Saskatchewan, a g ...
. The occupation, officially known as bail enforcement agent, or fugitive recovery agent, has traditionally operated outside the legal constraints that govern police officers and other agents of the state. This is because a bail agreement between a
defendant
In court proceedings, a defendant is a person or object who is the party either accused of committing a crime in criminal prosecution or against whom some type of civil relief is being sought in a civil case.
Terminology varies from one jurisdic ...
and a
bail bondsman
Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Bail is the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when required.
In some countries ...
is essentially a
civil contract that is incumbent upon the bondsman to enforce. As a result, bounty hunters hired by a bail bondsman enjoy significant legal privileges, such as forcibly entering a defendant's home without
probable cause
In United States criminal law, probable cause is the standard by which police authorities have reason to obtain a warrant for the arrest of a suspected criminal or the issuing of a search warrant. There is no universally accepted definition or f ...
or a
search warrant
A search warrant is a court order that a magistrate or judge issues to authorize law enforcement officers to conduct a search of a person, location, or vehicle for evidence of a crime and to confiscate any evidence they find. In most countries, ...
; however, since they are not police officers, bounty hunters are legally exposed to
liabilities that normally exempt agents of the state—as these
immunities enable police to perform their designated functions effectively without fear—and everyday citizens approached by a bounty hunter are neither required to answer their questions nor allowed to be detained. Bounty hunters are typically
independent contractor
Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any othe ...
s paid a commission of the total bail amount that is owed by the fugitive; they provide their own
PLI and only get paid if they are able to find the "
skip
Skip or Skips may refer to:
Acronyms
* SKIP (Skeletal muscle and kidney enriched inositol phosphatase), a human gene
* Simple Key-Management for Internet Protocol
* SKIP of New York (Sick Kids need Involved People), a non-profit agency aidin ...
" and bring them in.
Bounty hunting is a vestige of
common law
In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omnipresen ...
which was created during the Middle Ages. Bounty hunters primarily draw their legal
imprimatur
An ''imprimatur'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''impr.'', from Latin, "let it be printed") is a declaration authorizing publication of a book. The term is also applied loosely to any mark of approval or endorsement. The imprimatur rule in the R ...
from an 1872 Supreme Court decision, ''
Taylor v. Taintor
''Taylor v. Taintor'', 83 U.S. (16 Wall.) 366 (1872), was a United States Supreme Court case. It is commonly credited as having decided that a person to whom a suspect is remanded, such as a bail bondsman, has sweeping rights to recover the suspe ...
''. The practice historically existed in many parts of the world; however, as of the 21st century, it is found almost exclusively in the United States as the practice is illegal under the laws of most other countries. State laws vary widely as to the legality of the practice;
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
,
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...
,
Oregon
Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...
, and
Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
have outlawed commercial bail bonds, while
Wyoming
Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...
offers few (if any) regulations governing the practice.
United States
History
Before the Civil War
The Old West
In 1873, the
Supreme Court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
noted that bounty hunters were a part of the U.S. law enforcement system with a decision in ''
Taylor v. Taintor
''Taylor v. Taintor'', 83 U.S. (16 Wall.) 366 (1872), was a United States Supreme Court case. It is commonly credited as having decided that a person to whom a suspect is remanded, such as a bail bondsman, has sweeping rights to recover the suspe ...
'':
Modern times
In modern times, bounty hunters are known as bail enforcement agents or fugitive recovery agents and carry out arrests mostly of those who have skipped bail or whose bail has been revoked.
The term "bounty hunting" is neither often used nor liked by many in the profession, due to its historical associations.
When undertaking arrest warrants, agents may wear
bullet-resistant vests, badges, and other clothing bearing the inscription "bail enforcement agent" or similar titles.
[Archived a]
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine
Many agents also use
two-way radio
A two-way radio is a radio that can both transmit and receive radio waves (a transceiver), unlike a broadcast receiver which only receives content. It is an audio (sound) transceiver, a transmitter and receiver in one unit, used for bidirecti ...
s to communicate with each other. Many agents arm themselves with firearms, or sometimes with less lethal weapons, such as
taser
A taser is an electroshock weapon used to incapacitate people, allowing them to be approached and handled in an unresisting and thus safe manner. It is sold by Axon, formerly TASER International. It fires two small barbed darts intended to ...
s,
batons,
tear gas
Tear gas, also known as a lachrymator agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the early commercial aerosol, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the eye to produce tears. In ad ...
(
CS gas
The compound 2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile (also called ''o''-chlorobenzylidene malononitrile; chemical formula: C10H5ClN2), a cyanocarbon, is the defining component of tear gas commonly referred to as CS gas, which is used as a riot control agent ...
,
pepper spray
Pepper spray, oleoresin capsicum spray, OC spray, capsaicin spray, or capsicum spray is a lachrymatory agent (a compound that irritates the eyes to cause a burning sensation, pain, and temporary blindness) used in policing, riot control, cr ...
),
or
pepper spray projectiles.
In the United States, the National Association of Fugitive Recovery Agents is the professional association representing this industry.
Practice
Bounty hunters in the United States are employed by
bail bondsmen
Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Bail is the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when required.
In some countries, ...
. The bounty hunter is usually paid about 10% of the total bail amount, but this commission can vary on an individual, case-by-case basis, usually depending upon the difficulty level of the assignment and the approach used to exonerate the bail bond. If the fugitive eludes bail, the bondsman, not the bounty hunter, is responsible for 100% of the total bail amount. This is a way of ensuring clients arrive at trial. As of 2003, bounty hunters claimed to catch 31,500 bail jumpers per year, about 90% of people who jump bail.
Bounty hunters have varying levels of authority in their duties with regard to their targets, depending on which states they operate in. Barring restrictions applicable state by state, a bounty hunter may enter the fugitive's legal residence without any
warrant, besides the original bail bonds contract signed by the fugitive, to execute a re-arrest.
In some states, bounty hunters do not undergo any formal training,
and are generally unlicensed, only requiring sanction from a bail bondsman to operate. In other states, however, they are held to varying standards of training and
license
A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit).
A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
. State legal requirements are often imposed on out-of-state bounty hunters, so a fugitive could temporarily escape rearrest by entering a state in which the bail agent has limited or no jurisdiction.
Laws and regulation
In the United States legal system, the 1873
U.S. Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
case ''
Taylor v. Taintor
''Taylor v. Taintor'', 83 U.S. (16 Wall.) 366 (1872), was a United States Supreme Court case. It is commonly credited as having decided that a person to whom a suspect is remanded, such as a bail bondsman, has sweeping rights to recover the suspe ...
'', 16 Wall (83 U.S. 366, 21 L.Ed. 287), is cited as having established that the person into whose custody an accused is remanded as part of the accuser's bail has sweeping rights to that person. Though this may have been accurate at the time the decision was reached, the portion cited was
obiter dictum
''Obiter dictum'' (usually used in the plural, ''obiter dicta'') is a Latin phrase meaning "other things said",''Black's Law Dictionary'', p. 967 (5th ed. 1979). that is, a remark in a legal opinion that is "said in passing" by any judge or arbi ...
and has no binding precedential value.
As of 2008, four states,
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
,
Kentucky
Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...
,
Oregon
Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...
, and
Wisconsin
Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
prohibited the practice, as they have abolished commercial bail bonds and banned the commercial bail bonds industry within their borders.
[Adam Lipta]
Illegal Globally, Bail for Profit Remains in U.S.
New York Times, January 29, 2008 As of 2012,
Nebraska
Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...
and
Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...
similarly prohibit surety bail bonds.
[Bail Bonds Information](_blank)
Bail Bonds Agent Directory by Bail Bonds Network, n.d., Retrieved July 18, 2012. The states of Texas and California require a license to engage in bounty hunting while other states may have no restrictions.
There have been some states that have rolled out specific laws that govern bounty hunting. For example, Minnesota laws provide that a bounty hunter cannot drive a white, black, maroon, or dark green vehicle, or wear any colors that are reserved for the police in the state (e.g. maroon, which is worn by the Minnesota Highway Patrol).
Connecticut
The State of
Connecticut
Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...
has a detailed licensing process which requires any person who wants to engage in the business as a bail enforcement agent (bounty hunter) to first obtain a professional license from the Commissioner of Public Safety; specifically detailing that "No person shall, as surety on a bond in a criminal proceeding or as an agent of such surety, engage in the business of taking or attempting to take into custody the principal on the bond who has failed to appear in court and for whom a re-arrest warrant or capias has been issued unless such person is licensed as a bail enforcement agent". Connecticut has strict standards which require bail enforcement agents to pass an extensive background check and, while engaging in fugitive recovery operations, wear a uniform, notify the local police barrack, wear a badge, and only carry licensed and approved firearms, including handguns and long guns which are permitted. Recently, the
Connecticut State Police
The Connecticut State Police (CSP) is a division of the Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection responsible for traffic regulation and law enforcement across the state of Connecticut, especially in areas not served by ...
converted its bail enforcement agent licensing unit to reflect the role bail enforcement agents play in the Connecticut criminal justice system; placing them in the newly defined Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection.
Several schools in Connecticut have obtained certification by the Connecticut State Police to pre-license bail enforcement agents in a minimum of 20 hours of criminal justice training and a minimum of eight hours of firearms training. Some of the more advanced schools offer specialized training in the area of tactical firearms to prepare BEAs for conducting dangerous recovery operations.
Florida
In Florida, only a "limited surety agent" licensed by the
Florida Department of Financial Services
Florida Department of Financial Services (FLDFS) is a state agency of Florida. Its headquarters are in Tallahassee. In 2002 the Florida Legislature merged the Department of Insurance, Treasury and State Fire Marshal and the Department of Banking ...
- Bureau of Agent and Agency Licensing, may legally apprehend bail fugitives in addition to law enforcement's ability to arrest a fugitive pursuant to a bench warrant. According to the Chapter 648 of Florida Statute regarding Bail Bond Agents, "A person may not represent himself or herself to be a bail enforcement agent, bounty hunter, or other similar title in this state."
Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
requires bounty hunters to wear clothing identifying them as such.
Nevada
A
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...
bounty hunter is referred to as a bail enforcement agent or bail enforcement solicitor. In order to meet state requirements, the bail agent must complete a minimum 80 hours of training (or a POST certification), and that they pass the required examinations and obtain a bail enforcement agent license by the Nevada Division of Insurance within nine months of employment. To acquire such license, one must be at least 21 years old, a United States citizen, have a high school diploma or equivalent, and undergo the required training and pass a state examination.
Texas
A
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
bounty hunter is required to be a peace officer, Level III (armed)
security officer
A security guard (also known as a security inspector, security officer, or protective agent) is a person employed by a government or private party to protect the employing party's assets (property, people, equipment, money, etc.) from a variety ...
, or a
private investigator
A private investigator (often abbreviated to PI and informally called a private eye), a private detective, or inquiry agent is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private investigators of ...
.
International action by U.S. bounty hunters
International extradition exists only by authority of an international treaty with the nation where the fugitive is located. Extradition treaties limit extradition to certain offenses and not all fugitives can be
extradited. Generally, the crime being charged against the fugitive must be recognized as a crime in the jurisdiction from which extradition is being sought.
Bail fugitive recovery agents may run into serious legal problems if they try to apprehend fugitives outside the United States, where they have no legal authority to arrest and taking a person into custody could be charged as kidnapping or some other serious crime. While the United States government and most states recognize a bail agent or fugitive recovery agent's powers of arrest, the governments in other countries, including sovereign Native American territories within the U.S., do not recognize a bail agent's or fugitive recovery agent's powers of arrest.
Bounty hunter
Duane "Dog" Chapman, star of the TV series ''
Dog the Bounty Hunter'', was arrested in Mexico after he apprehended the multi-millionaire rapist and fugitive
Andrew Luster
Andrew Stuart Luster (born December 15, 1963) is heir to the Max Factor cosmetics fortune and a convicted sex offender. He is the great-grandson of cosmetics giant Max Factor Sr. In 2003 he was convicted of multiple sexual assaults using the da ...
. Chapman was subsequently released and returned to the U.S.
but was later declared a fugitive by a Mexican prosecutor and was subsequently arrested in the United States to be extradited back to Mexico. All charges were later dropped due to the crime passing the statute of limitations date. Chapman has maintained that under Mexico's citizen arrest law, he and his crew acted under proper policy.
Legal action against bounty hunters
Daniel Kear of
Fairfax, Virginia
The City of Fairfax ( ), colloquially known as Fairfax City, Downtown Fairfax, Old Town Fairfax, Fairfax Courthouse, FFX, or simply Fairfax, is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth ...
pursued and abducted
Sidney Jaffe
Sidney may refer to:
People
* Sidney (surname), English surname
* Sidney (given name), including a list of people with the given name
* Sidney (footballer, born 1972), full name Sidney da Silva Souza, Brazilian football defensive midfielder
* ...
at a residence in Canada and returned him to Florida to face trial. Kear was extradited to Canada in 1983, and convicted of kidnapping.
Several bounty hunters have been arrested for killing the fugitive or apprehending the wrong individuals, mistaking innocent people for fugitives.
Unlike police officers, they have no legal protections against injuries to non-fugitives and few legal protections against injuries to their targets.
In a Texas case, bounty hunters Richard James and his partner DG Pearson were arrested in 2001 for felony charges during an arrest. The charges were levied by the fugitive and his family, but were later dismissed against the hunters after the fugitive's wife shot a deputy sheriff in another arrest attempt of the fugitive by the county sheriff's department. The hunters sued the fugitive and family, winning the civil suit for
malicious prosecution
Malicious prosecution is a common law intentional tort. Like the tort of abuse of process, its elements include (1) intentionally (and maliciously) instituting and pursuing (or causing to be instituted or pursued) a legal action (civil or criminal ...
with a judgment amount of $1.5 million.
Notable bounty hunters
See also
*
Citizen's arrest
A citizen's arrest is an arrest made by a private citizen – that is, a person who is not acting as a sworn law-enforcement official. In common law jurisdictions, the practice dates back to medieval England and the English common law, in which ...
*
Citizen's arrest in the United States
*
Contract killing
Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may be ...
*
False arrest
False arrest, Unlawful arrest or Wrongful arrest is a common law tort, where a plaintiff alleges they were held in custody without probable cause, or without an order issued by a court of competent jurisdiction. Although it is possible to sue ...
*
List of fictional assassins and bounty hunters
This is a list of fictional assassins and bounty hunter
A bounty hunter is a private agent working for bail bonds who captures fugitives or criminals for a commission or bounty. The occupation, officially known as bail enforcement agent, or ...
*
Mercenary
A mercenary, sometimes also known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual, particularly a soldier, that joins a military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any o ...
*
Skiptrace
Skiptrace (also skip tracing, or debtor and fugitive recovery) is the process of locating a person's whereabouts. A skip tracer is someone who performs this task, which may be the person's primary occupation. The term "skip" (as a noun) refers t ...
*
United States Marshals Service fugitive programs
References
External links
Inside America's Pro-Profit Bail System- An anti bail system video
Vice TV
Vice (formerly known as Viceland and also known as Vice TV) is an American basic cable television channel that launched on December 2, 2019, replacing H2 on most multichannel television providers in the United States. It is a part of the Vicela ...
channel (Youtube)
Further reading
* F. E. Devine. Commercial Bail Bonding: A Comparison of Common Law Alternatives, 232 pages, Praeger (August 30, 1991), {{ISBN, 0275937321
Legal professions
Law enforcement techniques
Western (genre) staples and terminology
Espionage techniques
Hunters by game