How Nevada handles a case
What happens after an arrest anywhere in Nevada: 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
A judge, usually a justice of the peace, decides release at a pretrial release hearing held within 48 hours of custody. Before that hearing, a sheriff or police chief may release people without a hearing where a court's administrative order allows it. For domestic battery, state law fixes the bail amount for anyone released after a 12-hour hold without seeing a judge.
NRS 178.484, 178.4847, 178.4849- Time to see a judge
A court must hold a pretrial release hearing within 48 hours after a person is taken into custody. Separately, if an arrested person has not seen a magistrate within 72 hours, not counting weekends and holidays, the magistrate must ask the prosecutor why and may release the person.
NRS 178.4849NRS 171.178(3)- Money bail
Money bail is allowed only as the least restrictive way to protect the community or secure court appearance. A prosecutor who asks for bail must prove by clear and convincing evidence that it is needed, and the court must state its findings on the record for anything beyond release on recognizance.
NRS 178.4851 (amended 2021)- Pretrial risk assessment
The Nevada Supreme Court ordered every judicial district to use the Nevada Pretrial Risk Assessment, a tool built for Nevada after a pilot in four counties.
Mapping Pretrial Risk, State Laws on RATs (secondary; used as a pointer)- Courts
District courts try felonies. Justice courts hear all misdemeanors in their townships and no other criminal cases, and municipal courts hear misdemeanors under their city's ordinances.
Nev. Const. art. 6, secs. 5, 9NRS 4.370(3)NRS 5.050(2)- Judges and magistrates
Voters elect district judges on a nonpartisan ballot to six-year terms. Township voters elect justices of the peace to six-year terms. A justice of the peace must be a lawyer with five years of practice only in townships of 100,000 or more people in counties of 100,000 or more; elsewhere a high school diploma is the education requirement.
Nev. Const. art. 6, sec. 5NRS 293.195NRS 4.010, 4.020, 4.025- Prosecutors
Each county elects a district attorney, who must be a licensed Nevada lawyer.
NRS 252.010, 252.020- Public defense
Counties with 100,000 or more people must have a county public defender. Smaller counties may create their own office or use the State Public Defender, and the state Department of Indigent Defense Services sets minimum standards and can take over a county's defense.
NRS 260.010NRS 180.450- Jails
The sheriff keeps the county jail and is responsible for its prisoners.
NRS 211.030
Read from the statutes and court rules cited, 2026-09-30. The Supreme Court's order adopting the Nevada Pretrial Risk Assessment (ADKT 0539) sits on nvcourts.gov, which refused our requests (HTTP 403), so the pretrial section rests on a secondary summary. City misdemeanors are often prosecuted by city attorneys, not checked here.