California

Sets bail first

Jail officer on the county bail schedule

Who that is

Not a judge

Release on a schedule

Jail or police can release on a schedule

Time to see a judge

48 hours

Money bail

Limited (2021)

Risk assessment

Some counties

Prosecutor

District attorney, one per county, elected

Public defense

Mixed

Jails run by

Mixed

Who decides release first

The superior court judges in each county adopt a bail schedule every year, and the jail, police, or court clerk can accept bail under it and release the person without a judge. A duty judge or commissioner can raise bail on an officer's sworn request, and a judge sets release at arraignment.

Cal. Penal Code 1269bCal. Penal Code 1270.1

Time to see a judge

An arrested person must be taken before a judge without unnecessary delay and within 48 hours, not counting Sundays and holidays.

Cal. Penal Code 825

Money bail

Money bail and county schedules remain, but in In re Humphrey (2021) the California Supreme Court held that a court setting money bail must consider the person's ability to pay and may not hold someone only because they can't afford it.

In re Humphrey (2021) 11 Cal.5th 135, S247278Cal. Penal Code 1269b

Population covered

99%

of California's people lived under an agency that reported to the FBI in 2025.

Agencies on NIBRS

88%

768 of 867 agencies send incident detail. The rest send summary counts or nothing.

Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer, pulled 2026-09-26.

Program

California Department of Justice, Criminal Justice Statistics Center (CJSC)

Incident reporting

California Incident-Based Reporting System (CIBRS)

Annual report

Crime in California (titled Crime and Delinquency in California through the 2017 edition)Latest edition: 2025. Editions online 1996 to 2025.

Online portal

OpenJusticeData 1985 to 2025.

What changed

Title changed from Crime and Delinquency in California to Crime in California with the 2018 edition. The state is mid-transition to CIBRS; the 2025 report mixes legacy summary and CIBRS submissions, and not all agencies sent a full year. The 2023 and 2024 editions were re-posted in July 2026 with disclaimers.

Links and years checked 2026-09-26.

• OpenJusticeState · CA

  California Department of Justice · Incidents, Arrests, Hate crime, Use of force, Other · csv, dashboard · annual

  CA DOJ open data portal for state criminal justice statistics (crimes and clearances, arrests, use of force, hate crime), with downloadable files.

• California Judicial Council pretrial program reportsState · CA

  Judicial Council of California · Bail, Courts · pdf · annual

  Annual legislative reports (Year 1-4) and SB 36 aggregate data reports on pretrial release outcomes by court size and for large and medium courts.

• Court StatisticsState · CA

  Judicial Council of California · Courts · pdf, html · annual

  Statewide court caseload statistics, including the annual Court Statistics Report.

Plus 83 national sources, from the FBI, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the Census Bureau, the courts, and others.