Bail: An Abbreviated Overview of Federal Criminal Law

Summary

In a criminal law context, bail is most often thought of as the posting of security to ensure the presence of an accused at subsequent judicial proceedings. The term itself is less frequently used now, however, due in part to the practice of release on personal recognizance, which is permitting an individual to pledge his word, rather than his property, for his future appearance. Moreover, today an individual’s release pending subsequent criminal proceedings is often predicated on conditions other than, or in addition to, the posting of an appearance bond, secured or unsecured. As a consequence, rather than speaking of bail, existing federal law refers to release or detention pending trial, to release or detention pending sentencing or appeal, and to release or detention of a material witness. This is an abridged version of CRS Report R40221, Bail: An Overview of Federal Criminal Law, by Charles Doyle, without the citations to authority, footnotes, appendices, and some of the discussion found in the longer report.