Belknap County, New Hampshire

How a case moves here

Belknap County follows New Hampshire 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: Before arraignment, a bail commissioner sets bail. The Circuit Court appoints commissioners from justices of the peace, and they need not be lawyers. People charged with serious violent crimes are held for a judge within 36 hours, and the police can't set bail.
RSA ch. 597
Time to see a judge: A person arrested must appear before a Circuit or Superior Court judge within 36 hours, not counting weekends and holidays.
RSA 594:20-a
Money bail: Money bail is allowed. Since 2018, a court may not set money bail that keeps a person in jail only because they can't pay, unless it finds after a hearing that no other condition will work.
RSA 597:2
Courts: The Superior Court tries felonies. The District Division of the Circuit Court tries misdemeanors and violations without a jury. Since 2016 felonies in Strafford and Cheshire counties start in Superior Court.
New Hampshire Judicial Branch, How NH Courts Work
Judges and magistrates: The governor appoints judges with the approval of the Executive Council, and they serve until age 70. There are no judicial elections.
New Hampshire Judicial Branch, How NH Courts Work

Read from the statutes and court rules cited, 2026-09-30. The bail statute changes often (amended 2024, 2025, and 2026, with a change effective January 1, 2027). Whether Circuit Court judges must be lawyers was not confirmed.

What this county does differently

Pretrial practice

Mapping Pretrial Injustice listed its risk tool in 2021 as the Ohio Risk Assessment System Pretrial Assessment Tool (ORAS-PAT).

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 Belknap County, counted by the agencies that serve it, appear here once the county series is published. NIBRS reporting here started as early as January 2002.