How Virginia handles a case
What happens after an arrest anywhere in Virginia: 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 magistrate decides bail first. Magistrates are court officers, not judges, and need not be lawyers. The law presumes release unless the magistrate finds the person likely to flee or dangerous.
Va. Code 19.2-119Va. Code 19.2-120Va. Code 19.2-37- Time to see a judge
Police must bring a person arrested without a warrant "forthwith" before a magistrate. The law sets no number of hours.
Va. Code 19.2-82- Money bail
Magistrates and judges may set secured money bonds. Virginia repealed its presumptions against bail for listed offenses in 2021 and now presumes release.
Va. Code 19.2-120- Pretrial risk assessment
Local pretrial services agencies, funded through the Department of Criminal Justice Services, score defendants with the Virginia Pretrial Risk Assessment Instrument (VPRAI). The department says statewide rollout of the instrument is complete.
Virginia DCJS, Pretrial Risk Assessment- Courts
Circuit courts try felonies and hear misdemeanor appeals. General district courts hear misdemeanors and traffic cases and hold preliminary hearings in felony cases. Juvenile and domestic relations district courts hear cases involving minors and family members.
Virginia's Judicial System, General District Court- Judges and magistrates
The General Assembly elects circuit judges for eight-year terms and district judges for six-year terms; all must be lawyers. Magistrates are not judges. The Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court of Virginia appoints them after consulting the chief circuit judges, and magistrates appointed since July 1, 2008 need a bachelor's degree, not a law degree.
Va. Const. art. VI, sec. 7Va. Code 16.1-69.9Va. Code 16.1-69.15Va. Code 19.2-35Va. Code 19.2-37- Prosecutors
Voters in each county and independent city elect a Commonwealth's attorney for a four-year term.
Va. Const. art. VII, sec. 4- Public defense
The Virginia Indigent Defense Commission runs 29 public defender offices. Where no office serves the court, judges appoint private lawyers from the commission's certified list in rotation.
Virginia Indigent Defense Commission, About us- Jails
The sheriff of each county or city keeps its jail, unless the locality has joined a jail board or a regional jail authority with its neighbors.
Va. Code 53.1-116.2Va. Code 53.1-95.2
Read from the statutes and court rules cited, 2026-09-30. Virginia's independent cities stand in for counties: each elects its own Commonwealth's attorney and sheriff. Whether every locality has a pretrial services agency was not confirmed.