Massachusetts Laws regarding Bail Bonds & Bounty Hunters
Below is basic information on bail bond laws for Massachusetts concerning Bail Enforcement, Bounty Hunters, Fugitive Apprehension and Bail Bondsman. This is not legal advice. Laws change frequently, please check the links provided for possible updates and current information.
- Massachusetts bail bond law state statutes:
- Massachusetts General Laws Annotated (MGLA) 276 § 61B Part IV. Crimes, Punishments And Proceedings In Criminal Cases Title II. Proceedings In Criminal Cases Chapter 276. Search Warrants, Rewards, Fugitives From Justice, Arrest, Examination, Commitment And Bail. Probation Officers And Board Of Probation Arrest, Examination, Commitment And Bail.
Massachusetts Rules Of Court Rules Governing Persons Authorized To Take Bail Rule 1 – 40.
1999 Massachusetts House Bill No. 1481, Massachusetts 183rd General Court — 1999 Regular Session Introduced Version Date January 6, 1999 An Act Relative To Bounty Hunters.
- Massachusetts licensing requirements for Bail agents:
- The MA statutes do not currently contain provisions for the licensing of bail agents for the recapture of principals, however legislation for such is pending. Currently the statutes do provide for the regulation of “professional bondsmen” by the State Superior Courts and also the Bail Administration as discussed in the provisions below. ***
- No person proposing to become bail or surety in a criminal case for hire or reward, either received or to be received, shall be accepted as such unless he shall have been approved and registered as a professional bondsman by the superior court or a justice thereof.
- No person proposing to become bail or surety in a criminal case in any calendar year after having become bail or surety in criminal cases on five separate occasions in said year shall be accepted thereafter during said year as bail or surety unless he shall have been approved and registered as a professional bondsman as aforesaid.
- A person who has been accepted as bail or surety, contrary to the provisions of this section, shall nevertheless be liable on his obligation as such bail or surety.
- Such approval and registration may be revoked at any time by such court or a justice thereof, and shall be revoked in case such a bondsman fails for thirty days after demand to satisfy in full a judgment recovered under section seventy-four or a new judgment entered on review under section seventy- six. The district attorney or prosecuting officer obtaining any such judgment which is not satisfied in full as aforesaid shall, forthwith upon the expiration of such period of thirty days, notify in writing the chief justice of such court.
- All professional bondsmen shall be governed by rules which shall be established from time to time by the superior court.
- Any unregistered person receiving hire or reward for his services as bail or surety in any criminal case, and any unregistered person becoming bail or surety in any criminal case in any calendar year after having become bail or surety in criminal cases on five separate occasions in said year, and any professional bondsman violating any provision of the rules established here under for such bondsmen, shall be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars or by imprisonment for not more than one year, or both. The provisions of this section shall not apply to probation officers.
- A person shall be deemed to have become bail or surety on a separate occasion within the meaning of this section if he becomes such:
- (1) for a person in respect to a single offense; or
(2) for a person in respect to two or more offenses wherefore he at one and the same time offers bail or surety, or in respect to two or more offenses committed at the same time or arising out of the same transaction or course of conduct wherefore he at different times offers bail or surety; or
(3) for two or more persons at the same time offering bail or surety in respect to offenses committed jointly or in common course of conduct. - Becoming bail or surety for the same person or persons in subsequent proceedings in connection with prosecution for the same offense or offenses shall not be deemed an additional occasion or occasions.
MGLA 276 § 61B PART IV. Crimes, Punishments And Proceedings In Criminal Cases Title Ii. Proceedings In Criminal Cases Chapter 276. Search Warrants, Rewards, Fugitives From Justice, Arrest, Examination, Commitment And Bail. Probation Officers And Board Of Probation Arrest, Examination, Commitment And Bail § 61B. Bond of professional bondsman; arrest bond certificates; conditions of acceptance; regulation
Massachusetts Rules Of Court Rules Governing Persons authorized To Take Bail Rule 1 Definitions.
- Professional Bondsman. A professional bondsman is any person who becomes bail or surety for any defendant in the criminal process; whether it be as agent for any corporation, or person, surety agent or principal, who has received, been promised, or expects to receive a fee, pay or reward for acting as bail or surety.
Massachusetts Rules Of Court Rules Governing Persons Authorized To Take Bail Rule 22
- Persons authorized to take bail shall not assume that registration of professional bondsmen is a guarantee of sufficiency. Professional bondsmen are to be at least as closely questioned as any other person offered as surety and special attention must be paid, in the case of professional bondsmen, to the total amount of the recognizance in which each is surety.
Massachusetts Rules Of Court Rules Governing Persons Authorized To Take Bail Rule 40
- Dictates that professional bondsmen must be registered with the Superior Court.
- Massachusetts bail agent’s arrest authority.
- The fact that this section provides for and discusses an “arrest bond certificate” seems to imply arrest authority.
- MGLA 276 § 61B Part IV. Crimes, Punishments And Proceedings In Criminal Cases Title Ii. Proceedings In Criminal Cases Chapter 276. Search Warrants, Rewards, Fugitives From Justice, Arrest, Examination, Commitment And Bail. Probation Officers And Board Of Probation Arrest, Examination, Commitment And Bail § 61B. Bond of professional bondsman; arrest bond certificates; conditions of acceptance; regulation
- As used in this section, “guaranteed arrest bond certificate” shall mean a printed card or other certificate issued by a licensed automobile association or travel club to any of its members, which is signed by the member and contains a printed statement that such automobile association or travel club and a surety company licensed to do business shall, in the event of the failure of such person to appear in court at the time set for appearance, pay any fine or forfeiture imposed upon such person in an amount not to exceed five hundred dollars.
- Massachusetts bounty hunter (fugitive apprehension) provisions:
- 1999 Massachusetts House Bill No. 1481, Massachusetts 183rd General Court — 1999 Regular Session Introduced Version Date January 6, 1999 AN ACT RELATIVE TO BOUNTY HUNTERS. SO-CALLED
TEXT: Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: Chapter 276 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 82A the following section: –
- Section 82B. Any person engaged in the business of the recapturing of prisoners released on bail who have defaulted shall register with the Department of Public Safety prior to undertaking any such activity in the Commonwealth. In each and every case where such person undertakes the recapture of such defaulted prisoner he shall notify the local police department and request its assistance prior to such undertaking. Such defaulted prisoner shall be afforded all the constitutional and statutory rights he would be entitled to if arrested by a police officer. 1999 MA H.B. 1481 (SN)
- Links to State and Local Authorities:
Please check with the Massachusetts’s Department of Insurance, Licensing Board and/or Local Law Enforcement for the most recent updates. If you know of any updates to Massachusetts’s bail bond laws, please provide as much detail as possible and send to us using our contact form.
