How Louisiana handles a case

What happens after an arrest anywhere in Louisiana: 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: District judges and their commissioners, city and parish judges, mayor's courts, and justices of the peace can all set bail within their limits. In the largest parishes, an appointed commissioner usually sets bail first. For charges on a court's bail schedule, the jail can accept bail at the scheduled amount with no judge, unless the person asks for a special order.
La. C.Cr.P. art. 314 La. C.Cr.P. art. 315 La. C.Cr.P. art. 313
Time to see a judge: A person held after a warrantless arrest is entitled to a probable cause decision by a magistrate within 48 hours, which may be made on paper. The jail must bring the person before a judge for appointment of a lawyer within 72 hours, not counting weekends and holidays. The judge may set or review bail then.
La. C.Cr.P. art. 230.1 La. C.Cr.P. art. 230.2
Money bail: Louisiana allows money bail, and a person charged with a crime is entitled to bail except in listed cases. Act 354 of 2026 bars bail again for a person who skipped court or forfeited bail while out on a firearm or sex offense charge, and limits bail after conviction.
La. C.Cr.P. art. 312 Résumé digest, Act 354 (SB 93), 2026 Regular Session
Pretrial risk assessment: Louisiana has no statewide pretrial risk tool. Orleans Parish Criminal District Court has used the Public Safety Assessment since 2018, and its pretrial services office gives the scores to judges and commissioners.
City of New Orleans, announcement of the Public Safety Assessment, April 23, 2018 Orleans Criminal District Court, Pretrial Services
Courts: District courts try felonies, and each of the 64 parishes has one; Orleans Parish has a separate criminal district court. City and parish courts hear misdemeanors, and many small towns have mayor's courts for ordinance violations. Justices of the peace have very limited criminal jurisdiction.
Louisiana State Bar Association, Court Structure La. Const. art. V, secs. 15, 20
Judges and magistrates: Voters elect district judges to six-year terms, and a district judge must have practiced law in Louisiana for at least eight years. City and parish court judges are also elected to six-year terms and must be lawyers. Justices of the peace and mayors who run mayor's courts are elected and need not be lawyers.
La. Const. art. V, secs. 22, 24 Louisiana State Bar Association, Court Structure
Prosecutors: Voters in each judicial district elect a district attorney to a six-year term. A district attorney must have practiced law in Louisiana for at least five years. Most judicial districts cover one to three parishes.
La. Const. art. V, sec. 26
Public defense: Louisiana runs a statewide public defender system. The Office of the State Public Defender oversees 42 district public defender offices, one per judicial district, and each district chooses staff lawyers, contract lawyers, or both.
Louisiana Office of the State Public Defender Louisiana Office of the State Public Defender, Appeals and Writ Service
Jails: The elected sheriff of each parish keeps the parish jail. In Orleans Parish, the Orleans Parish sheriff runs the jail.
La. R.S. 15:704 La. Const. art. V, sec. 27

Read from the statutes and court rules cited, 2026-09-30. Some of this is medium confidence and still being checked. Parishes stand in for counties; the run_by value county sheriff means the parish sheriff. Judges run in an open primary with party labels; we count that as partisan. Commissioner offices exist only where a special statute creates them (Orleans, East Baton Rouge, and others); which parishes have them was not checked. The bail articles were renumbered by Acts 2026, No. 354; article numbers follow the legislature's site on 2026-09-30.