How New York handles a case
What happens after an arrest anywhere in New York: 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 of a local criminal court decides release at arraignment; the police do not set bail. Outside the big cities that judge is often a town or village justice who need not be a lawyer. A local court can't set bail on a class A felony or for someone with two prior felony convictions; a superior court judge decides those.
N.Y. Crim. Proc. Law 530.20N.Y. Crim. Proc. Law 150.20- Time to see a judge
Police must bring an arrested person before a local criminal court without unnecessary delay. The statute sets no hour limit. The U.S. Supreme Court's 48-hour rule for a probable cause finding applies as the federal floor.
N.Y. Crim. Proc. Law 140.20- Money bail
Since 2020, a court must release people charged with most misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies on their own promise or on nonmoney conditions. Money bail is allowed only for listed qualifying offenses, such as violent felonies and some sex and weapons crimes.
N.Y. Crim. Proc. Law 530.20(1)- Pretrial risk assessment
No statewide tool. In New York City, the Criminal Justice Agency interviews nearly everyone held for arraignment and gives the court a release assessment.
New York City Criminal Justice Agency, Services- Courts
Felonies are tried in the Supreme Court in New York City and in the County Court elsewhere. Misdemeanors go to local criminal courts: the New York City Criminal Court, city courts, district courts, and town and village courts. Local courts also hold the first arraignment on felonies.
NY Courts, 8th Judicial District, Court structureNY Courts, New York City Criminal Court- Judges and magistrates
Voters elect Supreme Court justices to 14-year terms and County Court judges to 10-year terms. The mayor appoints New York City Criminal Court judges to 10-year terms, and voters elect town and village justices, who need not be lawyers.
NY Courts, 8th Judicial District, Court structureNYC Bar, Guide to Judicial Selection Methods in New YorkN.Y. Uniform Justice Court Act 105- Prosecutors
Each county's district attorney prosecutes crimes in that county. Voters in each county elect the district attorney to a four-year term.
N.Y. County Law 700N.Y. Const. art. XIII, s. 13- Public defense
Each county and New York City picks its own plan for defending people who can't afford a lawyer: a public defender office, a legal aid society, a bar association plan assigning private lawyers, or a mix.
N.Y. County Law 722- Jails
In most counties the sheriff runs the county jail. In New York City the city's commissioner of correction runs the jails, and in Westchester County a county commissioner of correction does.
N.Y. Correction Law 500-c
Read from the statutes and court rules cited, 2026-09-30. The district attorney's four-year elected term is from the state constitution, which we did not open; County Law 700 confirms each county has one.