How Arizona handles a case
What happens after an arrest anywhere in Arizona: 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
A judicial officer sets release at the initial appearance. In Maricopa County, superior court commissioners, who are appointed lawyers, run the initial appearance court; elsewhere justices of the peace and municipal judges often do it. Arizona has no general jail bail schedule, though police may cite and release people for many misdemeanors.
A.R.S. sec. 13-3967A.R.S. sec. 12-213Ariz. Const. art. 2, sec. 22A.R.S. sec. 13-3601- Time to see a judge
A person arrested must be taken before a magistrate within 24 hours, or released. If no complaint is filed within 48 hours of the initial appearance, the person must be released.
Ariz. R. Crim. P. 4.1, as summarized in Arizona Supreme Court, Case Processing Standards Analysis: Criminal Felony (2024)- Money bail
Arizona allows money bail. A judicial officer releases a person on recognizance or on bail in an amount the officer sets, after weighing listed factors such as the charge, criminal history, danger, and the victim's views.
A.R.S. sec. 13-3967- Pretrial risk assessment
In 2015 the Arizona Supreme Court adopted the Public Safety Assessment as the approved pretrial risk tool statewide. County pretrial services give the results to the judicial officer setting release.
Arizona Supreme Court, Pretrial Initiatives and Taskforces (Administrative Order 2015-38)Arizona Supreme Court, Pretrial Services (ACJA 5-201)- Courts
The Superior Court, a statewide trial court with a branch in each county, tries felonies. Justice courts, run by justices of the peace in county precincts, and city municipal courts hear misdemeanors and petty offenses. Justice courts also hold felony preliminary hearings.
Arizona Judicial Branch, Today's Court System Has Three LevelsArizona Judicial Branch, Limited Jurisdiction Courts- Judges and magistrates
In Maricopa, Pima, Pinal, and Coconino counties, the governor appoints superior court judges from a commission's list and voters decide in retention elections whether to keep them. In the other counties, superior court judges win nonpartisan elections. Either way the term is four years; justices of the peace are elected to four-year terms, and city councils appoint most municipal judges, some of whom need not be lawyers.
Ariz. Const. art. VI, sec. 12Arizona Commission on Judicial Performance ReviewArizona Judicial Branch, Limited Jurisdiction Courts- Prosecutors
Each county elects a county attorney, who prosecutes all state crimes in the superior court and the lower courts of the county. City prosecutors handle misdemeanors in municipal courts.
A.R.S. sec. 11-532A.R.S. sec. 11-401- Public defense
Each county decides how to fund and run defense for people who can't pay, with no state agency in charge. Most counties have a county public defender office, while the most rural counties contract with private lawyers. Phoenix and Tucson run their own systems for city court cases.
Sixth Amendment Center, ArizonaA.R.S. sec. 11-582- Jails
The sheriff of each county keeps the county jail, including jails run under a county jail district.
A.R.S. sec. 31-101
Read from the statutes and court rules cited, 2026-09-30. Rule 4.1 was read through the Supreme Court's own summary, not the rule text. Merit selection applies by constitution to counties of 250,000 or more; Coconino joined by vote in 2018. The constitutional no-bail rule for people in the country illegally (art. 2, sec. 22(A)(4)) was left out of the summary because federal courts struck down its statute in 2014; not re-checked.