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Schuylkill County

145,085 people, served by 56 police agencies that report to the FBI.

How a case moves here

Schuylkill 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 Schuylkill 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 Schuylkill 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 Schuylkill County, 2021 to 2025
Offense20212022202320242025Per 100kPennsylvania
Violent crime978889113124228270
Murder3416Too few for a rate: the count is under 20.6.8
Rape29242337386731
Robbery9557101661
Aggravated assault5659576870138170
Property crime4595464934974541,0921,445
Burglary8611010410289219133
Larceny3343973463583357901,108
Motor vehicle theft393943373084204
Arson7107221212

Outside the crime index

Offenses outside the crime index reported by agencies in Schuylkill County, 2021 to 2025
Offense20212022202320242025Per 100kPennsylvania
All offenses outside the crime index1,8661,5781,4581,3241,3153,3642,703
Simple assault and intimidation5736326255846151,351897
Vandalism257203167193150433580
Fraud406214125114116435415
Drug abuse violations461336356271280760475
Weapons: carrying, possessing, etc.533249403895158
Stolen property: buying, receiving, possessing1498792127
Forgery and counterfeiting1014121462531
Embezzlement6261314163316
Sex offenses (except rape and prostitution)528266495313551
Other Group A offenses34303738327644
Manslaughter by negligence (not in the total)111Too 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 Schuylkill 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.