How Kentucky handles a case
What happens after an arrest anywhere in Kentucky: 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
For eligible low-level charges, a pretrial services officer, a state court employee, releases the person on recognizance under the Supreme Court's non-financial bail schedule, with no judge. Everyone else is released only by a district judge, circuit judge, or trial commissioner, who gets the pretrial risk assessment within 24 hours of booking.
Supreme Court of Kentucky Order 2025-22- Time to see a judge
A person arrested without a warrant must be taken before a judge "without unnecessary delay." The rule sets no number of hours; when no judge is available, the jailer must bring a person who can't make bail to a judge without unnecessary delay.
Ky. R. Crim. P. 3.02- Money bail
Judges may set cash bail, but Kentucky has barred for-profit bail bonding since 1976, so there are no commercial bail bond agents. The schedule that lets pretrial officers release people is non-financial.
KRS 431.510Supreme Court of Kentucky Order 2025-22- Pretrial risk assessment
Pretrial Services, part of the state court system, scores eligible defendants with the Public Safety Assessment and gives the judge its risk levels and a release recommendation within 24 hours of booking.
Supreme Court of Kentucky Order 2025-22- Courts
Circuit courts try felonies. District courts hear misdemeanors, violations, and traffic cases, and hold arraignments and probable cause hearings in felony cases. Both belong to one statewide Court of Justice, and Kentucky has no city or justice-of-the-peace courts.
Kentucky Court of Justice, Courts- Judges and magistrates
Voters elect circuit judges for eight-year terms and district judges for four-year terms, all in nonpartisan elections. For a mid-term vacancy, the governor appoints from three names a judicial nominating commission sends.
Kentucky Court of Justice, Courts- Prosecutors
Voters in each circuit court district elect a Commonwealth's attorney for a six-year term, who prosecutes felonies in circuit court.
Ky. Const. sec. 97- Public defense
The state Department of Public Advocacy runs the statewide public defender system through regional trial offices; Louisville's public defender office joined it in 2024.
KRS 31.030Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy, Somerset Trial Office- Jails
Each county's jailer, an office separate from the sheriff, has custody of the county jail. Two or more counties may form a regional jail authority to run a shared jail instead.
KRS 71.020KRS 441.800
Read from the statutes and court rules cited, 2026-09-30. Search summaries claim RCr 3.02 sets 24- and 48-hour limits; the current rule text on Westlaw (amended 1999) has none, so deadline_hours is null. County attorneys prosecute misdemeanors in district court; not confirmed from statute this pass. The trial commissioner lawyer rule (KRS 24A.100) and the 2024 Louisville merger rest on the earlier research and news summaries, not a read statute. Louisville Metro runs its own corrections department; not checked.