According to one accomplished Dummit Fradin Criminal Defense Attorney you generally only need a bondsman when you receive a secured bond. A secured bond is where you have to make a cash payment to the state before being released on your own with a promise to show up to your court date. For example, if a judge set a secured bond for $10,000 normally you would have to put up that $10,000 yourself. But, if you come to court and do everything you are supposed to you will get the money back in the end. What a bondsman will do, generally speaking, is charge around 10% of the secured bond amount. So if you have a $10,000 secured bond, then you will pay the bondsman $1,000. The bondsman will then put up the $10,000 in exchange for $1,000. However, once the case ends, no matter the outcome, the bondsman keeps the $1,000.  You do not get that money back.  There are some advantages to getting a bondsman, especially if you have a high bond like $250,000. It’s important that if you do get a secured bond you are able to obtain your release. Statistically, you’ll have better success with criminal defense when you get a pretrial release. So, the ability to obtain your release on a secured bond is an important part of the justice system.