Bounty hunter
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A bounty hunter captures fugitives for a monetary reward (bounty). Other names include bail agent, bail enforcement agent, bail officer, fugitive recovery agent, fugitive recovery officer and bail fugitive recovery specialist.
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[edit] Laws regarding bounty hunters in the U.S.
In the United States legal system, the 1873 U.S. Supreme Court case Taylor v. Taintor, 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 accused's bail has sweeping rights to recover that person (although this may have been accurate at the time the decision was reached, the portion cited was obiter dicta and has no binding precedential value). Most bounty hunters are employed by a bail bondsman: the bounty hunter is paid a portion of the bail the fugitive initially paid. If the fugitive eludes bail, the bondsman, not the bounty hunter, is responsible for the remainder of the fugitive's bail.
Thus, the bounty hunter is the bail bondsman's way of ensuring his clients arrive at trial. In the United States, bounty hunters catch an estimated 31,500 bail jumpers per year, about 90% of people who jump bail.[1] Bounty hunters are also sometimes known as "bail enforcement agents" or "fugitive recovery agents," which are the preferred industry and polite terms, but in common speech, they are still called "bounty hunters".
Bounty hunters are sometimes called "skiptracers," but this usage can be misleading. While bounty hunters are often skiptracers as well, skiptracing generally refers to the process of searching for an individual through less direct methods than active pursuit and apprehension, such as private investigators or debt collectors. Skiptracing can also refer to searches related to a civil matter and does not always imply criminal conduct on the part of the individual being traced.
In the United States of America, bounty hunters have varying levels of authority in their duties with regard to their targets, depending on the states they operate in. As opined in Taylor v. Taintor, and barring restrictions applicable state by state, a bounty hunter can enter the fugitive's private property without a warrant in order 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 licensure. In California, bounty hunters must undergo a background check and complete various courses that satisfy the penal code 1299 requirements.[2] In most states they are prohibited from carrying firearms without proper permits. However, Louisiana requires bounty hunters to wear clothing identifying them as such.[3] In Kentucky, bounty hunting is generally not allowed because the state does not have a system of bail bondsmen, and releases bailed suspects on their own recognizance, thus there is no bondsman with the right to apprehend the fugitive. Generally, only fugitives who have fled bail on federal charges from another state where bounty hunting is legal are allowed to be hunted in Kentucky.[3] In Texas, every bounty hunter is required to be a peace officer, Level III (armed) security officer, or a private investigator.[4]
There is always a possibility for a fugitive to make life difficult for a bounty hunter by fleeing to states which restrict some or all parts of the bounty hunter's service.
[edit] Bounty hunting and vigilantism
The popular image of bounty hunters may include elements of vigilantism. However, almost all bounty hunters are legally employed by bail bondsmen and operate within established legal limits. Bail bondsmen operate legally in forty-nine states (excluding Kentucky) and have an obligation to the courts to ensure that their clients appear for trial.
However, there have been various cases of civil rights abuses that have been committed by bounty hunters. The television program 60 Minutes featured a story of a woman who was arrested by bounty hunters who had mistaken her for another individual.[citation needed]
[edit] International laws and legal protection
Bounty hunters can also run into problems if a fugitive enters another country. Laws in other nations can be quite different, and taking a fugitive may be considered kidnapping. Noted 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.[1] Chapman was later himself declared a fugitive by a Mexican prosecutor and was subsequently arrested in the United States to be extradited back to Mexico even though under Mexico's citizen arrest law, Dog and his crew acted under proper policy and broke no other Mexican laws. Daniel Kear pursued and apprehended Sidney Jaffe at a residence in Canada. Kear was extradited to Canada, and convicted of kidnapping.[5] While the United States Government generally allows the activities of bounty hunters in the United States, the government is not as tolerant of these activities when they cause problems with other sovereign nations. [5] Several bounty hunters have also been arrested for killing a fugitive or apprehending the wrong person, mistaking them for a fugitive.[citation needed] Unlike police officers, they have no legal protections against injuries to non-fugitives and few legal protections against injuries to their targets.[citation needed]
[edit] Bounty hunters in fiction
In Westerns, bounty hunters are commonly depicted as loners, cynical yet romantic. The first depiction of the occupation in film was Andre de Toth's The Bounty Hunter in 1954 starring Randolph Scott. Steve McQueen played bounty hunter Josh Randall in the television series Wanted: Dead or Alive for three seasons, making him a well known star [6] The series was followed many years later by a film sequel—Wanted: Dead or Alive (1987)—in which Rutger Hauer played Nick Randall, Josh Randall’s grandson. McQueen's final film was The Hunter (film) a biography of modern day bounty hunter Ralph Thorsen. The Sergio Leone film For a Few Dollars More with Clint Eastwood was filmed in 1965 with a similar opening to DeToth's film.
This tradition has been adopted by several action-oriented vehicles of science fiction (inspired by Westerns), with fictional characters like Boba and Jango Fett, Rally Vincent, Spike Spiegel, Samus Aran, Several fictional characters in Cowboy Bebop and Jubal Early. In fact, in the Star Wars universe, there are numerous bounty hunters, though they are sometimes more like mercenaries than bounty hunters. Typically they are shown to work for powerful criminal figures with greater frequency than for the proper authorities.
The character Riddick in The Chronicles of Riddick is often pursued by bounty hunters in the future. Riddick is captured several times by the bounty hunter Toombs, often leaving the hunter stranded as he escapes from him.
Author Mike Resnick uses bounty hunters in many of his books.
The fictional character Stephanie Plum, protagonist in a series of mystery novels written by Janet Evanovich, is a bounty hunter in New Jersey.
Bounty hunter called Elliot Belt (a guest role of actor Lee Van Cleef) also figures as a main character in an album The Bounty Hunter (Chasseur de Primes) of the Franco-Belgian comics series Lucky Luke, created by Morris.
Colt Seavers, a fictional character played by Lee Majors in the TV show The Fall Guy, worked both as a stuntman and a bounty hunter.
In the Xbox game Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath the main character is a bounty hunter by the name of 'Stranger'.
The Renegade TV series starred Lorenzo Lamas as a character working for a friend's bounty hunter office while himself being fugitive (and often chased by bounty hunters).
[edit] See also
[edit] Notable bounty hunters
- Duane "Dog" Chapman
- Domino Harvey
- Sandra Scott featured in Wife, Mom, Bounty Hunter, a reality TV show on WE channel
- Ralph "Papa" Thorson Real life bounty hunter made famous by Steve McQueen in the film The Hunter
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b Rachel Clarke. "Above the law: US bounty hunters", BBC News, June 19, 2003. Retrieved on 2007-09-22.
- ^ Licensing Requirements for Agents.. www.bailyes.com,California bail laws web page. Retrieved on 2007-09-22.
- ^ a b Jonathan Drimmer. Bounty Hunter laws. americanbailcoalition.com. Retrieved on 2007-09-22.
- ^ Bounty Hunter Information. Texas Department of Public Safety. Retrieved on 2007-09-22.
- ^ a b Russell Covey (July 10, 2003). The Perils of Bounty hunting. findlaw.com. Retrieved on 2007-09-22.
- ^ http://stvmcqueen.tripod.com/McQbio2.html.
[edit] External links
- American Bail Coalition Located in Washington, D.C..
- Bill also Encourages Bounty Hunters to Track Down those Ordered Deported (Last Minute Amendment by Rep. Pete Sessions, Republican from Texas),
- How Stuff Works page about Bail Enforcement.bg:Ловец на глави
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