Preparing to Address a Bounty
Understand what contributes to a bounty. Committing a crime, no matter how small, in front of at least one person or domestic animal will add a bounty price to your head. If a guard in the hold in which you committed the crime(s) catches you, they will attempt to detain you, at which point you'll be prompted to give in, attempt to talk your way out of it, or resist arrest. Resisting arrest is inadvisable due to the sheer volume of guards which will attack you, leading to a high death count (and, by extension, a higher bounty).
Kill any witnesses if possible. If you've only just incurred a bounty, you may be able to kill any witnesses (including animals, bandits, and town folk) who witnessed the crime. If you've left the Hold in which you obtained the bounty, you can't kill the witnesses to prevent the bounty. Beware of causing too much of a scene. If you kill a human witness in front of another person, you can potentially create a snowball effect where your bounty increases as you rack up a body count.
Stop the guard response to a crime you just committed. If you committed a crime in full view of a guard, they may start attacking you. You can prompt them to stop attacking by putting away your weapon. This won't always work. You may need to exit the city and then re-enter it at a later time if putting away your weapon doesn't deter the guards' attacks.
Check the Hold in which you have a bounty. You can see a list of Holds—as well as each Hold's bounty—in the menu: Consoles — Press Start (Xbox) or Options (PlayStation), scroll over to the GENERAL STATS tab, scroll down to the CRIME section, and review your Holds' bounties. PC — Open the menu, scroll over to the GENERAL STATS tab, scroll down to the CRIME section, and review your Holds' bounties.
Check your bounty's amount. To the right of each Hold name, you'll see a number; that number refers to the number of gold your bounty is worth. If you see a 0 here, you don't have a bounty in your selected Hold.
Paying the Bounty
Make sure you have enough gold to pay off the bounty. If you're planning on paying for the bounty, ensure that you have at least the correct amount of gold in your inventory. If you plan on bribing the guards as part of the Thieves Guild skillset, you'll need extra gold.
Store away any stolen goods. When you pay a bounty, all of your stolen items will be confiscated. To avoid the hassle of stealing them back, store all the stolen items in your inventory inside a chest at home. Stolen items' names are in red and they have "Stolen" in front of their name, making them easy to identify.
Enter the Hold. Go to the city in which you have a bounty over your head.
Find and talk to a guard. Once you're in the city, approach a guard (or wait for a guard to approach you). In some cases, simply entering the city will be enough for a guard to approach you.
Indicate that you want to pay your bounty. Select You caught me. I'll pay off my bounty. in the dialogue window. If you're in the Thieves Guild and you've done at least one Guild job in the Hold in which your bounty is located, you can choose the Bribe option instead. This will cost more than just paying your bounty, but you won't lose any stolen items.
Allow the guards to frisk you. If your bounty is over 10 gold, you'll be taken to the local jail, and any stolen goods you didn't store will be confiscated by the guards. You will also have your bounty's amount taken from your available gold. If you bribed the guard, you won't lose any stolen items.
Going to Jail
Understand when to go to jail. Jail is an alternative for you if you don't want to pay your bounty in order to get rid of it. Unfortunately, staying in jail will also cause reduce of the progress you've made toward leveling up skills.
Store away any stolen goods. When you pay a bounty, all of your stolen items will be confiscated. To avoid the hassle of stealing them back, store all the stolen items in your inventory inside a chest at home. Stolen items have “Stolen” in front of their name, making them easy to identify.
Enter the Hold. Go to the city in which you have a bounty over your head.
Find and talk to a guard. Once you're in the city, approach a guard (or wait for a guard to approach you). In some cases, simply entering the city will be enough for a guard to approach you.
Indicate that you want to go to jail. Select the I submit. Take me to prison. response when prompted. Jail won't remove the bounty's worth from your gold balance, but it will cause your progress toward some skills to decay.
Serve your sentence or break out. To serve the duration of your sentence, sleep in your cell bed by approaching it and pressing the prompted button. When your character awakens, their sentence will be over. If you want to break out, you'll have to lockpick your way out. Stolen items will be in an "evidence chest" somewhere in the jail; lockpick this chest to get those items back. After your character awakens, you will be brought to the front of the prison, given back all of your items (except the stolen ones), and set free with a clear bounty. Breaking out successfully means you won't lose any progress towards skills.
Declaring Thaneship
Make sure you're the Thane in the Hold in which your bounty is active. If you haven't completed the Thaneship questline for your selected Hold, you aren't the Thane and this method won't work. People in the Hold in question will casually refer to you as "Thane" if you are the Thane.
Ensure that you can use the Thane excuse. You get one free pass for being the Thane if you meet the following conditions: Your bounty's value must be under 3,000 gold. You must not have used the Thane excuse before.
Enter the Hold. Go to the main city in the Hold in which your bounty is active.
Wait for a guard to approach you. This should happen almost immediately, but you can expedite the process by approaching one of the patrolling guards.
Select the "Thane" response. When the guard accuses you of having a bounty, select I’m the Jarl’s Thane. I demand you let me go at once. in the dialogue box.
Understand that you can't use this excuse again. If you're ever caught with a bounty in this same Hold in the future, the Thane excuse won't be an available option when confronted by a guard.
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