Purpose of Bail
As amended through June 18, 2024
The traditional purpose of bail is to assure the defendant's appearance in court.
The purpose of the law on bail, N. C. G. S., Chapter 15A, Article 26, is to impose the least restrictive nonmonetary form of pretrial release that will reasonably assure the defendant's appearance in court, to end or to minimize the abuses of generalized ex parte bail setting policies calling for secured bonds in predetermined amounts in all cases charging certain offenses, and to vest the decision making process as to form of release and amount of bond in the judicial officer who may know the most, or can most readily learn the most about the defendant at the earliest practicable stage of the proceedings in which bail may be set.