How Alabama handles a case
What happens after an arrest anywhere in Alabama: who decides release first, how fast a person sees a judge, which courts hear the case, and who runs the offices around them. Every county in the state works under these rules.
From arrest to court
- Who decides release first
After a warrantless arrest, a police officer may release a person on a bond from the statewide bail schedule. Otherwise a magistrate, often a court clerk who need not be a lawyer, sets bail from the schedule; magistrates can't go above the schedule's top amount without a judge, and can release without money only on misdemeanors. Charges such as capital murder and the serious violent offenses listed in Aniah's Law can be held for a judge.
Ala. R. Crim. P. 4.3Ala. R. Crim. P. 7.2Ala. R. Jud. Admin. 18- Time to see a judge
A judge or magistrate must decide probable cause after a warrantless arrest without undue delay and within 48 hours. If no one does, the person must be released on the schedule's minimum bond or on recognizance, unless the charge isn't bailable.
Ala. R. Crim. P. 4.3(a)(1)(iii)- Money bail
Officers, magistrates, and judges set money bail from a statewide schedule in the court rules. Aniah's Law, a 2022 constitutional amendment, lets judges deny bail outright for a list of violent offenses after a hearing.
Ala. R. Crim. P. 7.2Ala. Code 15-13-3- Pretrial risk assessment
No law requires a pretrial risk tool statewide. Jefferson County's Tenth Judicial Circuit uses the Virginia Pretrial Risk Assessment Instrument under a settlement.
Mapping Pretrial Risk, State Laws on RATs- Courts
Circuit courts try felonies. District courts in each county hear misdemeanors and hold preliminary hearings in felony cases, and city municipal courts hear ordinance violations and misdemeanors inside city limits. All three belong to one state-run court system, though circuit and district courts remain separate courts.
Alabama Judicial System, Judge QualificationsAla. R. Jud. Admin. 18- Judges and magistrates
Voters elect circuit and district judges in partisan elections for six-year terms. Circuit judges must have been licensed lawyers for seven years and district judges for four. City councils appoint municipal judges, and the state court director appoints magistrates on the nomination of the district judges and the clerk; magistrates need not be lawyers.
Alabama Judicial System, Judge QualificationsAla. R. Jud. Admin. 18- Prosecutors
Voters in each of the 41 judicial circuits elect a district attorney for a six-year term.
Ala. Code 17-14-8- Public defense
The state Office of Indigent Defense Services pays for defense in state courts. In each judicial circuit, a local advisory board picks appointed lawyers, contract lawyers, a public defender office, or a mix. Cities pay for defense in municipal courts.
Ala. Admin. Code r. 355-9-1-.08- Jails
The sheriff has custody of the county jail and everyone held in it.
Ala. Code 14-6-1
Read from the statutes and court rules cited, 2026-09-30. Some of this is medium confidence and still being checked. Rule 4.3(a)(1)(ii) lets an officer release on the schedule with no magistrate, which corrects the earlier note that this varies by county; how often officers do it is unknown. Aniah's Law details, its 2022 date, and 15-13-190 rest on the 2026-09-26 research, not re-read. The 41-circuit count and the municipal-court funding point rest on search summaries.