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Lancaster County

563,159 people, served by 56 police agencies that report to the FBI.

How a case moves here

Lancaster 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 Lancaster 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 Lancaster 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 Lancaster County, 2021 to 2025
Offense20212022202320242025Per 100kPennsylvania
Violent crime84149136407332130270
Murder14554Too few for a rate: the count is under 20.6.8
Rape39514385613331
Robbery461521268.461
Aggravated assault40887329624186170
Property crime4651,0221,0911,7291,6817011,445
Burglary7910112917815775133
Larceny3538678921,4541,4205841,108
Motor vehicle theft3354709710442204
Arson136101195.712

Outside the crime index

Offenses outside the crime index reported by agencies in Lancaster County, 2021 to 2025
Offense20212022202320242025Per 100kPennsylvania
All offenses outside the crime index1,6792,1862,1834,1674,4671,7202,703
Simple assault and intimidation3715635801,3661,489512897
Vandalism207265330586549227580
Fraud419405419606661294415
Drug abuse violations4425944951,1271,268460475
Weapons: carrying, possessing, etc.59646012611550158
Stolen property: buying, receiving, possessing16353552532227
Forgery and counterfeiting207659581053731
Embezzlement17433534271816
Sex offenses (except rape and prostitution)7578951271135751
Prostitution and commercialized vice81064Too few for a rate: the count is under 20.4.9
Gambling3Too few for a rate: the count is under 20.1.8
Other Group A offenses50556579833944
Manslaughter by negligence (not in the total)24314Too few for a rate: the count is under 20.1.2
Human trafficking (not in the total)3Too few for a rate: the count is under 20.0.7

Offenses agencies in Lancaster 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.