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Freakonomics: Why bounty hunters catch more fugitives than police officers
From the reality television show "Dog The Bounty Hunter," Duane 'Dog' Chapman arrives to A&E Television Networks Upfront celebration held at Rockefeller Center April 21, 2005 in New York City.
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Kai Ryssdal: Time now for a little Freakonomics Radio. We've come to that moment every couple of weeks, where we talk to Stephen Dubner, the co-author of the books and the blog of the same name -- it is about the hidden side of everything. Dubner, welcome back.
Stephen Dubner: Hey thanks Kai. I'm wondering, you pay your taxes, don't you?
Ryssdal: Yes I do.
Dubner: And tell me this: how happy are you with the services you get in return? Let's say services at the local level? Do you like it?
Ryssdal: Yeah, mostly, yeah.
Dubner: Now how about police? Do you think the police do a pretty good job?
Ryssdal: Yes. Yes. Yes.
Dubner: Now how good do you think the police are at catching fugitives? Any idea?
Ryssdal: I have no idea. And also, I'm lost. Where are you going with this?
Dubner: All right, let me tell you. I was talking to a guy named Alex Tabarrok, who's an economist at George Mason University. He taught me something very interesting I want you to hear.
Alex Tabarrok: Twenty-five percent of defendants -- felony defendants -- simply fail to show up on the day of their trial. That's a huge number; I was flabbergasted. So this means that the judge's time is wasted, the lawyer's time is wasted, the prosecutor's time is wasted, the police -- they have to go out and try to recapture this guy. It's a big cost to the criminal justice system.
So that cost obviously gets passed on to taxpayers like you and me, and makes extra work for the cops. So Tabarrok wanted to know, when a fugitive has to be hauled back to court, how good a job do the police do versus the private sector, you know, bounty hunters? And here's what Tabarrok found out: bounty hunters are about 50 percent more likely to bring back their man.
Ryssdal: That's kind of amazing, actually. Two things: one thing, it's amazing that 25 percent of these guys don't show up, because I'm nervous when I just get a traffic ticket, right? I put on a coat and a tie and I go to court. But also, how come these bounty hunters are more successful? I can only think of one thing, which is that they're scary people, right? You see them on TV in those shows.
Dubner: That's exactly right. Dog the Bounty Hunter, people think it's muscles and all that. So I actually asked a guy named Bob Burton about this. Burton is a legendary bounty hunter who runs a big operation out of Santa Barbara. He says that portrayals that we see on TV like Dog's -- or well here, I'm going to have him say it.
Bob Burton: It's grossly exaggerated. First of all, no one in the industry acts, or rather, looks like that. We're dealing with cops, judges, district attorneys. We can't look the way he looks. Forget the long hair -- you stand out. And it's pure television nonsense, the way he looks.
So being a bounty hunter is not about the muscles or the drama, it's about efficiency, pure and simple. Now Kai, let me ask you this: what percent of the fugitives that the bounty hunters go after do you think that they land?
Ryssdal: Uh, 74.
Dubner: That's a great guess. Try 97 percent. Now it's not to say that police are necessarily slacking off, though, because police have a lot of other duties beyond catching fugitives. The difference -- as always -- is in the incentives. So police officers, they earn their salary regardless of whether they round up a given fugitive. A bounty hunter only gets paid when they bring their guy back.
Ryssdal: How much do they get paid, though?
Dubner: Well, a bounty hunter usually gets 10 percent of the amount of the bail, but there's huge variance in the bail. So you might earn $50 for a $500 bond, or once in a great, great while, $100,000 for a $1 million bond. Bob Burton says that the typical bounty hunter earns between let's say $48,000 and $65,000 a year.
Ryssdal: So it's pretty direct, right? I mean, you go after the guy, you catch them, because it's your livelihood?
Dubner: That's exactly right. Or you know, as Bob Burton puts it: no body, no booty. There's no paycheck showing up if you don't bring the guy. But let me also stress, not all the incentives in the bounty hunting economy are financial; there's a lot of psychology too. Alex Tabarrok went out and asked one bounty hunter why bail bondsmen usually try to get a family member to co-sign the bond.
Tabarrok: And he says, 'I deal with a lot of mean people in my business. These guys, they're not afraid of me, they're not afraid of the police. But they're still afraid of their mother. So if I get the mother to co-sign on a bond, and this guy knows that the mother might lose her house if he doesn't show up for trial, he's going to show up for trial.'
Dubner: So Kai, the next time you get a wild hair and think about jumping bail, I just want you to picture your mama, all right?
Ryssdal: My mother loves me. She would never turn me in. If you're listening, Mom, please side with me on this one.
Stephen Dubner, FreakonomicsRadio.com is the website. He is back in just a couple of weeks. Dubner, we'll see you later.
Dubner: Just remember, your mama.
Ryssdal: No, your mama.
Dubner: Your mama.
Ryssdal: Mom, I love you.
Mr. Burton has long claimed that he was a Veteran of the Vietnam war, a member of the United States Marine Corps elite "Force Recon", a recipient of the Purple Heart, a former CIA contractor,a Bounty Hunter with more than 3000 arrests to his credit etc.
The truth about Mr. Burton, and the danger in using him as a source is that, like his personal history, his statistics tend to be invented and inflated.
Over the years Mr. Burton has used his skills as a rampant self promoter ascend in an industry where Bovine Scatology runs deep.
When asked in an "Icon Thought Style" magazine article (circa 1996) to provide evidence that he had arrested even one bail skip, he declined saying that "it wasn't realistic". Another article written by Rolling Stone Magazine in the same time period found several holes in Mr. Burton's stories.
His self proclaimed military credentials and talent for getting himself interviewed in national venues, got him access to a high ranking member of Special Operations Association.
(www.soa.org)
He eventually conned his way into getting the DD-214 (An official record of military service) requirement (potential members had to present a DD214 prior to being accepted as a member) waived. He then used his membership card in SOA as his Bona Fides when dealing with reporters and prospective students.
After his military record was circulated showing that he was a USMC reservist who never saw combat and was most certainly never in "Force Recon" he was kicked out of this organization for fraud.
Mr. Burton has, over the years, run various small time scams and confidence schemes on various people (not the least of which was legendary bounty hunter Ralph Thorson.)
His most recent victim (that I am aware of) was a highly regarded Vietnam veteran. I believe Bob relieved him of about $25,000.00 in a "Bounty Hunter" restaurant scheme based out of Arizona.
Robert Burton's military record shows that Mr. Burton entered the the US Marine Corps on July 2, 1957 and never served overseas, was never wounded, never received a commendation and he certainly was never in "Force Recon.
The veracity of the rest of his claims are slightly more difficult to disprove. Though I can tell you that in the last 20 years, I know of no credible source who has ever seen Bob Burton make an bail arrest himself.
This includes major bounty hunters who have known Bob for four or more decades.
If you have any questions about this post, please contact me via email.
"Truth is the best defense for libel"
Cheers
Hi Sophia,
Thanks for commenting (and listening!) We too enjoyed the NPR story very much (it won the heralded Peabody award).
There’s an important distinction between that reporting the research we’re presenting here: our data is all from felony defendants, which we tried to make clear in the piece. Alex Tabarrok’s research and a recent Department of Justice report find that they’re much more likely to be recaptured by bounty hunters. The NPR report largely focused on those who commit petty crimes, and attributes the claim that sheriff's deputies do better to a representative of the Lubbock DA's office. It may very well be true there.
Tabarrok’s work uses a random sample of federal data from about half of all reported crimes in the U.S., and thousands of cases. The DOJ report examines a 14-year span of felony cases in the nation's most populous counties. It finds only 3 percent of those out on a private bail bond remain at large after a year. Private bail bondsmen are the people who hire bounty hunters.
Here’s Tabarrok’s paper if you’d like to read it: http://mason.gmu.edu/~atabarro/PublicvsPrivate.pdf
Here’s the DOJ’s report: http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/pub/pdf/prfdsc.pdf
Collin Campbell, Freakonomics Radio
i just want to say that police do look for people who fail to appear its just that we as bounty hunters look harder. i get a lot of nose up, no help, and good luck! from some police . but for the most part if i have went into another state lets say. 99 percent of the time they will help as they dont want this bad person in that area. i think pound for pound i pick up far more serious bad folk than lets say a patrolman. www.joebountyhunter.com i will always field any question about the biz at 765-274-9354
These numbers are quoted in an overly dramatic way. The actual numbers are for every 100 people released on their own recognizance, 8-9 defendants will still be on the lam 1 year after their scheduled appearance date. Using a bailbonds system will get an additional 7 people; but make the other 93 people pay.
The bail-bonds system effectively fines defendants at the time of arrest the 10% bail-bond fee. This is not refundable if the charges are dropped or the defendant acquitted.
An alternative; if we believe in this system, we come up with the 10% some otherway--taxpayer funds, forfeiture of bail for those who fail to appear, and fining those who are convicted the 10% bail-bonds fee. This is more consistent with presumption of innocence.
An NPR report came to exactly the opposite conclusion. They concluded that the bail bonds industry is essentially the beneficiary of corporate welfare, that nonviolent prisoners unlikely to run are given high bail purely in order to benefit a politically powerful industry, and that when a prisoner does run, most of the time he's caught by the police.
Seems like there has to be more to it than this simple analysis. Like what about jurisdictional boundaries for example? If a fugitive goes to the next county or state, can't a bounty hunter just go get them? I'm not sure the police can do that. I'm also guessing that bounty hunters aren't big on getting warrants to enter property, but I'm not sure.
