When someone has been arrested and taken into custody, he or she is almost always going to be eligible for release via bail bond. While the eligibility for bail is almost universal (it’s guaranteed by the 8th Amendment, actually), the amount of bail is not the same for everyone.
Once someone has been arrested in California, they will go through booking and processing and then bail will be set. The amount of bail will depend greatly upon the number and severity of crime(s) that the individual has been charged with. As you can probably imagine, lesser crimes tend to require smaller amounts to bail someone out of jail, and the more serious the crime, the higher bail will be set. Basically, the more serious the possible sentence, the more expensive it will be to post bail. This scale is known as the LA County Bail Schedule and it is reviewed every year by judges in LA County.
As mentioned earlier, the 8th Amendment grants US citizens the right to bail. However, judges do have a little bit of wiggle room regarding how high to set it, or to even grant bail at all. At a bail hearing, a judge will take into account the safety of the public if the defendant is released, as well as the risk of flight. If a defendant has skipped bail before, it is highly likely that he or she will not be granted bail again, or, at the very least, will have to pay a much higher amount in order to obtain their freedom.
Ultimately, setting bail is an issue of public safety. If the defendant is seen as being a serious risk to the community should they be granted their release, a judge has the right to withhold bail and ensure that the defendant remains off the streets.
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