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Chester County

557,116 people, served by 61 police agencies that report to the FBI.

How a case moves here

Chester County follows Pennsylvania 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

Outside Philadelphia, a magisterial district judge sets bail at the preliminary arraignment. In Philadelphia, an arraignment court magistrate appointed by the Municipal Court sets it; magistrates need not be lawyers if they complete a training program. Neither may set bail for murder or voluntary manslaughter; a Common Pleas judge does.

Pa.R.Crim.P. 51942 Pa.C.S. 1515(a)(4)42 Pa.C.S. 1123(a)(5)
Time to see a judge

A person arrested without a warrant must have a preliminary arraignment without unnecessary delay. The rule sets no hour limit. The U.S. Supreme Court's 48-hour rule for a probable cause finding applies as the federal floor.

Pa.R.Crim.P. 516(A)
Money bail

Money bail is allowed. The rules list five kinds of release, from release on recognizance to a money condition no larger than needed to ensure the person appears.

Pa.R.Crim.P. 524(C)
Courts

The Court of Common Pleas, organized in 60 judicial districts, tries felonies and misdemeanors. Magisterial district judges hear summary offenses, the lowest grade, and hold first arraignments and preliminary hearings. In Philadelphia, the Municipal Court tries crimes punishable by up to five years without a jury.

Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania, Courts of Common Pleas42 Pa.C.S. 151542 Pa.C.S. 1123
Judges and magistrates

Common Pleas judges win a contested election for a 10-year term, then run in yes-or-no retention elections without party labels. Magisterial district judges are elected in contested elections to six-year terms and need not be lawyers. All other judges must be members of the bar.

Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania, How Judges Are Elected

Read from the statutes and court rules cited, 2026-09-30. The prison board statute covers counties of the third to fifth class and those that opt in; Philadelphia and Allegheny run jails under other arrangements not read here.

What this county does differently

Nothing county-specific yet

Whether Chester County runs a pretrial services office, uses a risk assessment, or has its own bail schedule appears here once a cited source says so.

Cities and towns

Every city, village, town, and township with any of its land in Chester County, largest first. Population, the whole place's: Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020 to 2024.

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

The crime index

Crime index offenses reported by agencies in Chester County, 2021 to 2025
Offense20212022202320242025Per 100kPennsylvania
Violent crime136223210258236119270
Murder32252Too few for a rate: the count is under 20.6.8
Rape43733357452831
Robbery9352749231661
Aggravated assault8111314814716673170
Property crime6908601,0361,3301,2155751,445
Burglary10411913513011968133
Larceny5376797951,0939844581,108
Motor vehicle theft496210610711249204
Arson536863.112

Outside the crime index

Offenses outside the crime index reported by agencies in Chester County, 2021 to 2025
Offense20212022202320242025Per 100kPennsylvania
All offenses outside the crime index3,0812,6062,9263,5663,4611,7532,703
Simple assault and intimidation5576347029911,049441897
Vandalism241274317431408187580
Fraud762451609755687366415
Drug abuse violations1,181904894913906538475
Weapons: carrying, possessing, etc.104881031179857158
Stolen property: buying, receiving, possessing26384535352027
Forgery and counterfeiting13345175532531
Embezzlement30305869532716
Sex offenses (except rape and prostitution)94767790624551
Prostitution and commercialized vice2111Too few for a rate: the count is under 20.4.9
Gambling13Too few for a rate: the count is under 20.1.8
Other Group A offenses707469891094644
Manslaughter by negligence (not in the total)11222Too few for a rate: the count is under 20.1.2
Human trafficking (not in the total)15Too few for a rate: the count is under 20.0.7

Offenses agencies in Chester County reported to the FBI in incident detail (NIBRS), each year, the second table by the arrest class each offense falls in. Per 100k: offenses per 100,000 people the reporting agencies police, 2021 to 2025 added together, beside Pennsylvania's rate over the same years. Agencies that reported part of a year are counted with their people, as the state's rates count them. – means too few for a rate: the count is under 20.

Source: FBI NIBRS national master files, each agency's offenses and the FBI's population for it. Pennsylvania: the crime index: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, CrimeDB's chosen value per year (the state page's figures); outside it: FBI NIBRS, agencies that sent incident detail.