Bounty Hunters

• Bounty hunters -- who often call themselves "bail recovery agents" or "fugitive recovery specialists" -- work with bail agents (businesspeople that post bail for a defendant when the defendant cannot post on their own) when a agent's customer runs away instead of going to court. The bounty hunter tracks down the runaway for a fee.
  
  

State Laws

• A Supreme Court ruling from the 1900s gave bail agents the right to track down and temporarily arrest runaway customers, but states set the laws regulating bounty hunters. Washington, D.C., Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Oregon and Wisconsin all heavily restrict or prohibit bounty hunting. Other states have varying regulations regarding firearms and contracts with bail agents; check with your state's Division of Insurance for local bounty hunting laws.
  
  

Recommended Background

• Degrees.info, a career information website, states that no formal degree or training is required for bounty hunters, though a few states have licensed private training courses or schools and bounty hunter courses of varying quality are available online. However, Degrees.info recommends training or a background in law enforcement or criminal justice.
  
  

Considerations

• Degrees.info states that a specialized skill set and certain personality traits are more important to being a successful bounty hunter than a specific curriculum. Bounty hunters usually work independently and on commission for bail agents, hence, they need to be able to track down fugitives safely and efficiently. Degrees.info lists patience, creativity, cleverness, conflict management and negotiation skills and persistence as important traits, as well as experience in tracing people.