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Luzerne County

332,126 people, served by 53 police agencies that report to the FBI.

How a case moves here

Luzerne 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 Luzerne 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 Luzerne County, largest first. Population, the whole place's: Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020 to 2024.

Police agencies

State Police: Luzerne County sends the reports for Luzerne County's own FBI code, PA0400000.

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 Luzerne County, 2021 to 2025
Offense20212022202320242025Per 100kPennsylvania
Violent crime7454836262114270
Murder635288.16.8
Rape29202114183531
Robbery10310541161
Aggravated assault292847413260170
Property crime4576275605444989111,445
Burglary8091735148116133
Larceny3345184694724277531,108
Motor vehicle theft431818212342204
Arson151113321512

Outside the crime index

Offenses outside the crime index reported by agencies in Luzerne County, 2021 to 2025
Offense20212022202320242025Per 100kPennsylvania
All offenses outside the crime index1,6181,3631,3231,2001,1022,2412,703
Simple assault and intimidation354356379399396639897
Vandalism186166151155123265580
Fraud261150173135115283415
Drug abuse violations645467436364305752475
Weapons: carrying, possessing, etc.413230283055158
Stolen property: buying, receiving, possessing28232923123927
Forgery and counterfeiting42756243439031
Embezzlement1214510131816
Sex offenses (except rape and prostitution)34322919405251
Prostitution and commercialized vice711Too few for a rate: the count is under 20.4.9
Gambling4201373161.8
Other Group A offenses11211517212944
Manslaughter by negligence (not in the total)11Too few for a rate: the count is under 20.1.2
Human trafficking (not in the total)1Too few for a rate: the count is under 20.0.7

Offenses agencies in Luzerne 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.