Scott, can I become a bounty hunter if I have a felony conviction?
In general, the answer is no but there are several exceptions and it really begins with where you live. First, each state regulates the bail enforcement industry differently- some require specific licensing, others require that one completes various certification procedures while other states do not require licensing at all; it is in those state where there is no licensing or certification process (no background check required) where a felon may try to pursue work in the bounty hunting business. I’ll be honest with you though, no one that I know in this business wants to work with a felon and will not knowingly hire a felon.
But…
Yes, I know… Dog Chapman is a felon… but he is essentially working for his wife’s bail bond company in a state that does not license or regulate recovery agents working on behalf of a bail bondsman; Hawaii is one of those states which does not require licensing or certification or background checks.
Why then, doesn’t anyone want to work with a felon?
There is a term called “respondeat superior” a key doctrine in the law of agency, which provides that a principal (employer) is responsible for the actions of his agent (employee) in the "course of employment" and this includes the typical independent contractor relationship which most recovery agents have with the client. Thus, if a bounty hunter causes a liability, the bonding company for which the hunter works will be liable for the injuries as well. When it comes to light in court that the bondsman hired a felon, a jury will crucify everyone involved. It has happened on several occasions in the past and I can cite specific cases which involved the use of felons by bondsmen who were subsequently sued for everything they owned- and then some. It really makes no difference what the felony conviction was for specifically.
But I have the mindset of a felon and I easily move among criminal without suspicion. It takes a criminal to catch a criminal…
That statement has always been the biggest load of horse shit I have ever had the opportunity to choke on. Give me a break and sell that crap to someone who is buying it. If that was true then the best undercover agents in the world would come from San Quentin or Sing Sing prisons and law enforcement agencies would set up career day in the out-processing center of every state jail or federal prison in the country, which is clearly not the case. I believe that statement has always been a marketing tool by some con trying to sell security consulting services to another dim-witted customer. I am not a felon or a criminal, have no illegal proclivities, but still manage better than a 97% assignment completion rate for over 14 years.
But Duane Chapman does it…
Go hunt in Hawaii- it’s not really all that difficult. The defendants are on an island 3,000 miles from the mainland, they have no where to go. 99% of them could not afford the $1,500 plane ticket to the mainland and its not like they can hop on a Greyhound Bus for $19 and be 1,000 miles away in a day or two. There aren’t any of the jurisdictional considerations of the UCEA we have here in the contiguous 48 states either. It’s like shooting fish in a barrel over there- you almost cannot miss.
But I want to turn over a new leaf, renounce my prior ways and give back to my community or affect these defendant’s lives…
Volunteer to serve food at a soup kitchen, read to a senior citizen or build a house with Habitat for Humanity and make a real difference.
Which states do not require licensing or certification?
The list of states not requiring a background investigation for bounty hunters are changing every year and that list is getting smaller all of the time. Do not take this as legal advice, and I am not an attorney, but my understanding is that of this posting the following states still do not require licensing or certification are:
Hawaii
Alaska
Montana
Idaho
Wyoming
Kansas
Minnesota
Michigan
Alabama
Pennsylvania
Maryland
Vermont
Maine
Delaware
Rhode Island
Bail enforcement and bounty hunting is altogether illegal, for everyone, in
Oregon
Wisconsin
Kentucky
Illinois
Nebraska (maybe… but no one seems to know for sure)
Be extra super secret about it in Washington, DC or you will go to jail- they REALLY don’t like bounty hunters or guns there at all.
Don’t chase people into Mexico without going through the “proper channels” and that does not mean the proper channel is A&E. (That one cracks me up)
Obviously the list above is subject to change but felons can’t bounty hunt anywhere else –legally. I seriously doubt that any state is going to repeal their background requirements for bail recovery agents and this list will only get smaller with time.
The lesson here today boys and girls is drink your milk and eat your vegetables, be a good kid, stay in school, don’t do drugs, listen to your parents, don’t break the law, don’t beat your wife and maybe you too can become a bounty hunter one day.
Before you write to complain or sick "All of Us or None" on me, I realize that all felons are not bad people- only that good people sometimes may make bad decisions and get caught. But when a person makes a felonious choice there have to be consequences, some of them permanent, and you probably knew that ahead of time.
Nos Vemos.
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