Dallas County, Texas

How a case moves here

Dallas County follows Texas 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: A magistrate sets bail first, at the hearing that must follow arrest. Magistrates include judges of every level, justices of the peace, and, in some counties, appointed criminal law magistrates. In misdemeanors, a sheriff, officer, or licensed jailer may take bail, and many counties use bond schedules signed by judges.
Tex. Code Crim. Proc. arts. 17.027, 17.20 to 17.22 Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 15.17
Time to see a judge: A person arrested must be taken before a magistrate without unnecessary delay and no later than 48 hours after arrest. The magistrate gives the warnings, sets bail, and can appoint a lawyer. The hearing may be held by video.
Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 15.17(a)
Money bail: Texas allows money bail. Since voters approved Proposition 3 in November 2025, a judge must deny bail for murder, aggravated assault, aggravated robbery, aggravated sexual assault, and several other felonies when the state proves flight risk or danger at a hearing, and must explain in writing any grant of bail on those charges.
Tex. Const. art. I, secs. 11 to 11d Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 17.15
Courts: District courts try felonies. Each county has a constitutional county court, and larger counties add county courts at law; these hear Class A and B misdemeanors. Justice courts and city municipal courts hear Class C misdemeanors, which carry only a fine.
Texas Office of Court Administration, The Texas Judicial System (2025)
Judges and magistrates: Voters choose district judges in partisan elections for four-year terms, and the governor fills vacancies until the next election. County judges, county court at law judges, and justices of the peace also win partisan elections for four-year terms. Justices of the peace and most constitutional county judges need not be lawyers; most municipal judges are appointed by the city council.
Texas Office of Court Administration, The Texas Judicial System (2025), "Selection and terms"

Read from the statutes and court rules cited, 2026-09-30. Prop 3 (2025) changed when bail must be denied, not whether money bail exists. Appointed criminal law magistrates exist only in counties with an enabling section in Gov't Code ch. 54, such as Harris, Dallas, Bexar, and Travis. Counts of public defender offices change often; check TIDC before quoting a number.

What this county does differently

Pretrial practice: Advancing Pretrial lists it as a Public Safety Assessment site since 2020.
Advancing Pretrial Policy and Research, PSA sites list (page modified 2026-06-03)

Cities and towns

Dallas1,307,930
Irving256,492
Garland246,844
Grand Prairie201,883
Mesquite149,299
Carrollton133,740
Lewisville131,080
Richardson118,731
Rowlett65,463
Wylie60,334
DeSoto56,211
Grapevine51,139
Cedar Hill48,879
Coppell42,154
Lancaster40,820
Duncanville39,683
Farmers Branch36,645
Sachse30,491
Balch Springs27,255
University Park25,155
Seagoville19,352
Glenn Heights18,096
Addison town17,290
Highland Park town8,773
Sunnyvale town8,336
Hutchins7,496
Wilmer6,391
Ovilla4,375
Cockrell Hill3,703
Ferris3,238
Combine2,785

Every city, village, town, and township with any of its land in Dallas 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 Dallas County, 2021 to 2025
Offense	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	Per 100k	Texas
Violent crime	15,601	14,576	13,325	13,255	11,670	491	411
Murder	292	278	306	245	192	9.4	6.1
Rape	1,318	1,138	1,178	1,112	883	40	53
Robbery	3,411	3,083	2,956	3,154	2,773	110	67
Aggravated assault	10,580	10,077	8,885	8,744	7,822	331	285
Property crime	80,939	86,206	88,794	77,370	67,510	2,873	2,123
Burglary	10,847	10,748	9,929	9,568	8,362	355	303
Larceny	53,026	56,274	53,126	47,342	44,103	1,820	1,493
Motor vehicle theft	17,066	19,184	25,739	20,460	15,045	699	327
Arson	302	243	225	216	210	8.6	9.2

Outside the crime index

Offenses outside the crime index reported by agencies in Dallas County, 2021 to 2025
Offense	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	Per 100k	Texas
All offenses outside the crime index	91,280	90,512	90,582	89,198	84,891	3,201	2,904
Simple assault and intimidation	34,731	34,688	34,138	35,063	32,312	1,225	1,172
Vandalism	18,711	18,082	18,074	16,258	14,006	610	534
Fraud	6,661	6,187	6,400	6,282	6,643	231	312
Drug abuse violations	21,762	21,790	22,240	22,850	23,760	806	602
Weapons: carrying, possessing, etc.	5,298	5,163	4,757	4,358	4,332	171	109
Stolen property: buying, receiving, possessing	1,043	1,312	1,423	1,160	962	42	17
Forgery and counterfeiting	964	967	885	807	680	31	64
Embezzlement	376	543	448	315	357	15	8.6
Sex offenses (except rape and prostitution)	670	639	629	553	484	21	27
Prostitution and commercialized vice	287	330	690	520	321	15	10
Gambling	70	82	93	102	87	3.1	1.9
Other Group A offenses	707	729	805	930	947	30	48
Manslaughter by negligence (not in the total)	43	56	34	52	43	1.6	0.8
Human trafficking (not in the total)	50	63	80	107	42	2.5	1.8

Offenses agencies in Dallas 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 Texas'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. Texas: 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.