How Much Time Do You Get for Failing to Appear in Court?

Failing to appear in court after being released on bail creates several serious problems that compound whatever the original charges were.

The first immediate consequence is that the bail bond is forfeited. Any money posted as bail is gone, whether it was paid in cash or through a bondsman. The bondsman, if one was used, will also send a bounty hunter to locate and return your brother to custody.

The second consequence is a new charge. Failure to appear, also called bail jumping or absconding, is a separate criminal offense in most states. Depending on the severity of the original charges, the failure to appear charge can be a misdemeanor or a felony on its own. That charge gets added to whatever he was originally facing.

The third consequence is that he will now be held without bail or with a significantly higher bail for the remainder of the proceedings. Courts do not give a second chance on pretrial release after a failure to appear. He will be inside for the duration of the trial and any subsequent sentencing.

The fourth consequence is the long-term impact on his record and any future proceedings. An abscond on someone's history makes it significantly harder to get favorable outcomes on probation, parole, or any future bond consideration. Judges and parole boards view it as evidence of unwillingness to comply with court orders, which is exactly the kind of thing that results in harsher sentences and denied releases.

How much total time he is looking at depends entirely on what the original charges were and the state he is in. The failure to appear adds time and complications on top of whatever that underlying sentence would have been.