New Castle County, Delaware

How a case moves here

New Castle County follows Delaware law on arrests, release, and courts. These rules are the same in every county in the state; the full set covers prosecutors, defense, and jails too.

Who decides release first: A Justice of the Peace Court magistrate usually sets bail at the initial appearance. Magistrates need not be lawyers. Only the Superior Court may set bail in a capital case, and for about 39 serious charges the law presumes cash-only bail.
11 Del. C. 2103, 2107, 2116 Delaware Courts, Magistrate Screening Committee
Time to see a judge: The court rules say a person arrested without a warrant must be taken before the nearest available magistrate without unreasonable delay, and set no hour limit. The U.S. Supreme Court's 48-hour rule for a probable cause finding applies as the federal floor.
Del. Super. Ct. Crim. R. 5(a)
Money bail: Money bail is allowed. The Bail Reform Act, in effect since January 1, 2019, favors release without money when that is enough, but presumes cash bail for listed serious charges.
11 Del. C. 2104 and 2107 Del. Supreme Court, In re Implementation of the Bail Reform Act, order of Feb. 28, 2022
Courts: The Superior Court tries felonies. The Court of Common Pleas hears misdemeanors. The Justice of the Peace Court holds initial appearances, sets bail, and hears some minor offenses.
Del. Const. art. IV, s. 7 11 Del. C. 5301 Delaware Courts, Justice of the Peace Court information for defendants
Judges and magistrates: The governor appoints Superior Court and Court of Common Pleas judges, with the state Senate's consent, for 12-year terms. Justice of the Peace magistrates are appointed the same way for four years, then six-year terms, and need not be lawyers.
Del. Const. art. IV, s. 3 Delaware Courts, Magistrate Screening Committee

Read from the statutes and court rules cited, 2026-09-30. The tool's name, DELPAT, comes from secondary pointers; the court rule says only 'pretrial assessment tool'. From February 1, 2027, a new version of chapter 21 lets a JP magistrate issue a temporary detention order of up to 10 days.

What this county does differently

Pretrial practice

Mapping Pretrial Injustice listed its risk tool in 2021 as a state-specific tool (not named in the list).

MediaJustice and Movement Alliance Project, Mapping Pretrial Injustice county map (data as of fall 2021)

From Mapping Pretrial Injustice, a map compiled by MediaJustice and the Movement Alliance Project, advocacy groups that campaign against pretrial risk assessment tools. Its data is from fall 2021; CrimeDB uses it only where no court, government, or research list covers the county.

Police agencies

Agencies: FBI NIBRS master file 2025 batch headers; names from the FBI agency list, pulled 2026-09-29. An agency that serves several counties appears on each. Population served is the FBI's figure.

Crime and arrests

No figures yet

Reported offenses and arrests for New Castle County, counted by the agencies that serve it, appear here once the county series is published. NIBRS reporting here started as early as January 2001.