Bounty hunter

For other uses, see Bounty hunter (disambiguation).

"Bounty killer" redirects here. For the reggae musician, see Bounty Killer.

A bounty hunter captures fugitives for a monetary reward (bounty). Other names, mainly used in the United States, include bail enforcement agent and fugitive recovery agent.

Laws 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 accuser's bail has sweeping rights to that person (although this may have been accurate at the time the decision was reached, the portion cited was obiter dictum and has no binding precedential value). Most bounty hunters are employed by bail bondsmen: the bounty hunter is paid about 10% 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. This is a way of ensuring his clients arrive at trial. In the United States, bounty hunters claim to catch 31,500 bail jumpers per year, about 90% of people who jump bail.

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 spies or debt collectors. It is 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 which 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. They cannot, however, enter the property of anyone other than the fugitive without a warrant or the owner's permission.

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 license. State legal requirements are often imposed on out-of-state bounty hunters, meaning a suspect could temporarily escape rearrest by entering a state in which the bail agent has limited or no jurisdiction.

Connecticut

The State of Connecticut has a detailed licensing process which requires any person who wants to engage in the business as a bail enforcement agent (bounty hunter) must first obtain a professional license from the Commissioner of Public Safety; specifically detailing that "No person shall, as surety on a bond in a criminal proceeding or as an agent of such surety, engage in the business of taking or attempting to take into custody the principal on the bond who has failed to appear in court and for whom a re-arrest warrant or capias has been issued unless such person is licensed as a bail enforcement agent". Connecticut has strict standards which require Bail Enforcement Agents to pass an extensive background check and, while engaging in fugitive recovery operations, be uniformed, notify the local police barrack, wear a badge, and only carry licensed and approved firearms, including handguns and long guns which are permitted.

Several schools in Connecticut have obtained certification by the Connecticut State Police to pre-license Bail Enforcement Agents in a minimum of 20 hours of Criminal Justice training and a minimum of eight hours of firearms training.

Kentucky

Kentucky prohibits bounty hunting in any form. Only a peace officer may make an arrest on a warrant that is issued in NCIC. This is because the state does not have a system of bail bondsmen.

Louisiana

Louisiana requires bounty hunters to wear clothing identifying them as such.

Texas

A Texas bounty hunter is required to be a peace officer, Level III (armed) security officer, or a private investigator.^{[citation needed]}

International laws and legal protection

Bounty hunters will run into serious legal problems if they try to get fugitives from other countries. Laws in nearly all countries outside the U.S. will judge the re-arrest of any fugitive by private persons as kidnapping, or the bail agent may incur the punishments of some other serious crime if local and international laws are broken by them. While the United States government generally allows the activities of bounty hunters in the United States, the government in other sovereign nations is not as tolerant of these activities when they are legally a felony.

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. Chapman was subsequently released and returned to the U.S. Chapman himself was later declared a fugitive by a Mexican prosecutor and was subsequently arrested in the United States to be extradited back to Mexico. Chapman maintains that under Mexico's citizen arrest law, he and his crew acted under proper policy.

Daniel Kear of Fairfax, Virginia pursued and apprehended Sidney Jaffe at a residence in Canada and returned him to Florida to face trial. Kear was extradited to Canada in 1983, and convicted of kidnapping.

Several bounty hunters have also been arrested for killing the fugitive or apprehending the wrong individuals, mistaking innocent people for fugitives.

Unlike police officers, they have no legal protections against injuries to non-fugitives and few legal protections against injuries to their targets.

In a Texas case, bounty hunters Richard James and his partner DG Pearson were arrested in 2001 for felony charges during an arrest. The charges were levied by the fugitive and his family, but were later dismissed against the hunters after the fugitive's wife shot a deputy sheriff in another arrest attempt of the fugitive by the county sheriff's department. The hunters sued the fugitive and family, winning the civil suit for malicious prosecution with a judgment amount of $1.5 million.^{[citation needed]}

Bounty hunting in Rhodesia

During the Rhodesian Bush War, cattle rustling reached epidemic proportions in the late 1970s. This was part of a twofold strategy of the guerrillas against the white minority government in Salisbury. First, it led to starvation in the Tribal Trust Lands; second, it negatively affected the economy of Rhodesia. Since the Army and the British South Africa Police were overstretched on three fronts, soon mercenaries were hired to confront the rustlers. They were called Range Detectives, and most of them were Vietnam veterans, some of them members of The Crippled Eagles. Payment was roughly 7 Rhodesian dollars a day, and a 750 Rhodesian dollar bonus for each rustler caught.

In fiction

Bounty hunting has been adopted by several action-oriented vehicles, including Westerns, science fiction, fantasy and stories set in modern times. Typically, hunters are depicted as assisting law enforcement agencies in the apprehension of wanted criminals, but also as mercenaries who give their services to powerful criminal figures rather than the proper authorities. Such characters have appeared in books, TV series, movies, comics and games from around the world. These include characters like Rick Deckard from Blade Runner; Boba Fett from the "Star Wars" movies; Reno Raines in the TV series Renegade; Rally Vincent of the manga Gunsmith Cats; Jubal Early from the Firefly franchise; Samus Aran from the Metroid video game series; and several characters in Cowboy Bebop.

• 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^{[citation needed]} 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 star. 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, a biography of modern day bounty hunter Ralph "Papa" Thorsen.

• The Sergio Leone film For a Few Dollars More starred Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef as bounty hunters, but with different motivations for pursuing their target.

• In the Philip K. Dick novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968), the character Rick Deckard is a bounty hunter who is tasked with "retiring" escaped androids. In the film adaptation, which was retitled Blade Runner (1982), the bounty hunters are called blade runners.

• Chasseur de primes (French for "bounty hunter") is a Belgian comics adventure in the popular Lucky Luke series which is set in the Old West. It was published in book form in 1972. In this story, bounty hunters are presented as being shunned and despised by society since their motivation to capture outlaws is based more on greed than an actual love for justice. An example is when a bounty hunter orders a drink at the saloon and the barman contemptuously pours it out on the bar rather than in a glass. The book has been published in English.

• Bounty hunting is depicted as a common trade in the Star Wars franchise, with such characters as Jango and Boba Fett, Greedo, IG-88, Zam Wesell and Cad Bane. Another is Valance the Hunter, a cyborg, who played an important role in the early Marvel Comics adaptations of the series in the late 1970s, confronting, and almost defeating, both Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. "Bounty Hunter" is also one of four playable classes for the Imperials's faction in BioWare's MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic.

• Strontium Dog is a British science fiction comic series set in the future in which physically deformed mutated humans work as bounty hunters for the Search/Destroy Agency, which answers to the galactic police force.

• In the television series The Fall Guy, Lee Majors played a Hollywood stunt man who takes bounty hunting assignments on the side (which is the focus of each episode).

• The television show MacGyver features a family of bounty hunters (brothers Jesse, Frank and Billy) as recurring characters.

• In the 1988 film Midnight Run, Robert De Niro plays a modern day bounty hunter, who is trying to bring in a mob accountant played by Charles Grodin.

• In the 1993 film Bounty Tracker, Lorenzo Lamas is a bounty hunter trying to avenge his brother's murder by catching the hitman.

• In the Stephanie Plum novels, written by Janet Evanovich, the main character is a bounty hunter described as "incredibly average and yet heroic if necessary" by the author. There are 15 full length novels and 4 holiday edition novellas. Each book revolves around Stephanie trying to catch her main bounty while destroying cars, getting help from love interests, and dealing with her abnormal family.

• In the Japanese manga One Piece, the character Roronoa Zoro is a bounty hunter who later became a pirate.

• In the Japanese manga Black Cat, the story revolves around assassins and bounty hunters (called sweepers). The main character Train Heartnet, is an assassin with the Chrono Numbers. He is later convinced by woman who guides him to leave them to be a sweeper (bounty hunter) with Sven Vollfied and then later a 11 year old girl cloned weapon named Eve, and other sweepers.

• In the thriller Scarecrow, written by Matthew Reilly, the main character, Schofield, is pursued by bounty hunters and is fiercely protected by Aloysius Knight, the "Black Knight", who is himself a bounty hunter.

• In Ben 10, the main antagonist called Vilgax, send some bounty hunters to take an powerful technology device called "The Omnitrix"; they are Sixsix, Kraab, and Tetrax. However, Tetrax decided to protect the device.

• In 2005, the real-life bounty hunter Domino Harvey was portrayed by Keira Knightley in the film Domino. Although the film was only loosely based on the life of Harvey, making it partially fictitious, it helped to illustrate the rising popularity of bounty hunters in modern U.S. culture.^{[citation needed]}

• In the animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender, June is a bounty hunter hired by Zuko (during the first season) to hunt down Avatar Aang.

• In the video game Need for Speed: Carbon, former Sgt. Cross (from Need for Speed: Most Wanted) returns as a bounty hunter to arrest the player.

• In the Simpsons episode Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes Homer Simpson and Ned Flanders work as bounty hunters.

• In the 2008 Transformers Animated series, the former Autobot Lockdown (Transformers) quit the Elite Guard (Transformers) and became a bounty hunter for both factions.

• In the 2010 movie The Bounty Hunter the main character Milo must chase down his ex-wife Nicole after she assaults a police officer.

Notable bounty hunters

• Domino Harvey
• Christian J. Matlock, Scottish Bounty Hunter now in United States
• Duane "Dog" Chapman, of reality show Dog the Bounty Hunter
  • Beth Smith Chapman, Duane's wife
  • "Baby" Lyssa Chapman, Duane's daughter
  • Duane Lee Chapman, II, Duane's son
  • Leland Chapman, Duane's son
  • Tim Chapman, Duane's brother
• Keith Jardine, mixed martial artist and bounty hunter
• Leonard Padilla
• Sandra Scott, featured in Wife, Mom, Bounty Hunter, a reality TV show on WE channel
• Jack Duncan, active 1877–95, played significant role in the capture of John Wesley Hardin

In fiction

• Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison), daughter of Snow White and Prince James "Charming" from Once Upon a Time.
• Stephanie Plum, the protagonist in a series of novels written by Janet Evanovich. Played by Katherine Heigl in the movie One For The Money.
• Reno Raines (aka Vince/Vincent Black), played by Lorenzo Lamas in the 1990s hit Renegade (TV series).
• Spike Spiegel, the main character from the anime Cowboy Bebop
• The Man with No Name, portrayed by Clint Eastwood in the "Dollars Trilogy" of Western films
• Col. Douglas Mortimer, played by Lee Van Cleef in For a Few Dollars More
• Fiona Glenanne played by Gabrielle Anwar also had a short period of Bounty Hunting on Burn Notice
• Boba Fett, bounty hunter in the Star Wars franchise
• Samus Aran, the main character of the Metroid video game series.
• Jango Fett, Greedo, Zuckuss, 4-LOM, Zam Wessel, Dengar, Aurra Sing, Sugi, Embo, Bossk, IG-88, Cad Bane, Calo Nord, other bounty hunters from Star Wars
• Rick Deckard from the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick, and the film Blade Runner, adapted from Dick's novel.
• Johnny Alpha, the main character of the 2000 AD strip Strontium Dog
• Colt Seavers from the TV series The Fall Guy
• Beck, portrayed by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in the 2003 action comedy film "The Rundown"
• John Marston in the 2010 video game Red Dead Redemption is serving as a bounty hunter in the employ of the United States Government.
• Jonah Hex and Lobo in DC Comics.
• Thomas Luther Price (played by Robert Culp) in the Western film Hannie Caulder is a well-known bounty hunter who is, to all intents and purposes, the law in his area.
• Kakuzu of the Akatsuki from the Waterfall Village in the anime Naruto shippuden
• Rally Vincent from the manga and anime series Gunsmith Cats
• The Pied Piper from Dreamworks' animated movie Shrek Forever After
• Leonard Smalls played by Randall "Tex" Cobb in the Coen Brothers film, Raising Arizona

See also

• Skiptrace
• Thief-taker
• False arrest
• United States Marshals Service#Fugitive programs

External links

National Association of Fugitive Recovery Agents

• Bounty Hunters Bounty Huners - TSI Swiss National TV Documentary on Bail Agent/Bounty Hunters
• Epstein, Edward "House OKs ban on licenses for illegal immigrants; Bill also encourages bounty hunters to track down those ordered deported" San Francisco Chronicle February 11, 2005
• Bounty Hunting at HowStuffWorks