North Dakota

What North Dakota's records show, how much of the state the FBI's data covers, and where the state publishes its own.

How North Dakota handles a case

Sets bail first: Jail on the Uniform Bail Schedule; district judge or magistrate at initial appearance
Who that is: Judges and others
Release on a schedule: Jail or police can release on a schedule
Time to see a judge: No hour limit set
Money bail: Allowed
Risk assessment: Some counties
Prosecutor: State's attorney, one per county, elected
Public defense: Statewide public defender
Jails run by: Mixed

Who decides release first: Jails and police follow the Supreme Court's Uniform Bail Schedule, which mostly points to release on a promise to appear rather than money. People held on felonies, on violent, sexual, or domestic violence misdemeanors, or on certain warrants may be held for a judicial officer. A district judge or a lawyer magistrate then sets release at the initial appearance.
N.D. Sup. Ct. Admin. R. 63 N.D.R.Crim.P. 46
Time to see a judge: A person arrested must be taken without unnecessary delay before the nearest available magistrate. The bail schedule rule asks that every effort be made to hold the appearance within 48 hours of arrest, but no rule sets a firm number of hours.
N.D.R.Crim.P. 5(a)N.D. Sup. Ct. Admin. R. 63(g)
Money bail: North Dakota courts may set money bail. The magistrate must release a person on recognizance or an unsecured bond unless that won't assure the person comes back.
N.D.R.Crim.P. 46

Crime and arrests

No figures yet

Reported offenses and arrests per 100,000 people, year by year, and how North Dakota compares with the country. They will come from the FBI's state totals.

FBI data coverage

Population covered: 98%; of North Dakota's people lived under an agency that reported to the FBI in 2025.
Agencies on NIBRS: 100%; 107 of 107 agencies send incident detail.

Counties and agencies: no data yet

Every agency in North Dakota by county, with the year each began sending incident detail to the FBI. They will come from the FBI's agency list and its NIBRS master files.

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

State crime reporting

Program: North Dakota Office of Attorney General, Bureau of Criminal Investigation, ND Incident-Based Reporting (ND IBR) program
Incident reporting: ND IBR (North Dakota Incident-Based Reporting)
Annual report: Crime in North DakotaLatest edition: 2025. Editions online 1999 to 2025.
Online portal: Crime Statistics Online

Links and years checked 2026-09-26.

North Dakota sources

2 sources

North Dakota Crime DataState · ND
North Dakota Office of Attorney General, Bureau of Criminal Investigation · Incidents, Arrests · pdf, html · annual
State UCR/NIBRS program under the Attorney General; annual Crime in North Dakota reports.
North Dakota case filing statisticsState · ND
North Dakota State Court Administrator, Research and Planning · Courts · xlsx, pdf · annual
County (53) filings by civil, criminal, traffic, juvenile, 2000-2025; dispositions only by district in annual report PDFs. Loaded.

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