New York sorts offenses by weight:

• Violations are not crimes. The harshest result is 15 days of jail and a $250 fine.
• Misdemeanors are lesser crimes. For class A, the jail limit is 364 days; for class B, it is three months.
• Felonies are serious crimes, ranked A (gravest) through E. Most can bring state prison.

With no city court in the county, the town and village justice courts serve as the local criminal courts. Violations, misdemeanors and traffic matters are tried there. Each felony also begins in one of these courts, which handle its arraignment and any preliminary hearing. After a grand jury indicts, the felony is transferred to County Court. Teen defendants mostly end up in Family Court or the Youth Part.

The county courthouse, 2 Court Street, Geneseo, NY 14454, holds several courts under one roof. The county sits in the 7th Judicial District, and the Fourth Department of the Appellate Division reviews its rulings on appeal.

• County Court and Supreme Court: felony pleas and trials after indictment. Main line 585-371-3920, Monday to Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
• Family Court: first floor, Room 129. Chief clerk 585-371-3919.
• Surrogate's Court: wills and estates. Chief clerk 585-371-3921.
• Treatment Court: a court-watched recovery program that meets Wednesdays at 3:00 p.m. Referrals come through the defense lawyer or the District Attorney. Resource coordinator 585-371-3976.
• Commissioner of Jurors: 585-371-3893.

Need a disability accommodation? Call 585-371-3266. The accessible door is beside the courthouse parking lot, reached from Main Street or Route 39, and it has an intercom.

All 17 towns run a justice court, and six of the nine villages add a village court. Sessions happen on set days, often late afternoon or evening, so call before you drive. Times for each bench appear on the county's town court calendar.

• Avon (town and village): Opera Block Building, 23 Genesee Street, Avon, NY 14414, 585-226-2425, ext. 13. Village sessions fall on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday at 2:00 p.m.
• Caledonia (town and village): 3095 Main Street, Caledonia, NY 14423, 585-538-4800
• Conesus (town): mail to P.O. Box 71, Conesus, NY 14435, clerk 585-991-8070. Town Hall sits at 6210 South Livonia Road, Conesus, NY 14435, 585-346-3130.
• Dansville (village): 14 Clara Barton Street, Dansville, NY 14437, 585-335-6547
• Geneseo (town and village): 119 Main Street, Geneseo, NY 14454, 585-243-4530, option 3. Town sessions run the 1st and 3rd Tuesday and village sessions the 2nd and 4th, all at 4:30 p.m.
• Groveland (town): 4955 Aten Road, Groveland, NY 14462, 585-243-3782, ext. 103 or 104
• Leicester (town): 132 Main Street, Leicester, NY 14481, 585-382-9419
• Lima (town): 7321 East Main Street, Lima, NY 14485, 585-582-1011
• Livonia (town): 35 Commercial Street, Livonia, NY 14487, 585-346-0221
• Mount Morris (town): 117 Main Street, Mount Morris, NY 14510, 585-658-3358
• Mount Morris (village): the village office at 117 Main Street, Mount Morris, NY 14510, 585-658-4160, can direct you, or search the state's town and village court finder.
• North Dansville (town): 14 Clara Barton Street, Dansville, NY 14437, 585-335-2330. Alternative number: 585-335-2460.
• Nunda (town): 4 Massachusetts Street, Nunda, NY 14517, 585-468-5558. Alternative number: 585-738-5176.
• Nunda (village): 4 Massachusetts Street, Nunda, NY 14517, 585-468-2215
• Ossian (town): 4706 Ossian Hill Road, Dansville, NY 14437, 585-335-8040. Alternative number: 585-335-7600, ext. 6.
• Portage (town): North Church Street, Hunt, NY 14846, 585-476-5981
• Sparta (town): 7351 Route 256, Scottsburg, NY 14545, 585-335-7045
• Springwater (town): 8022 South Main Street, Springwater, NY 14560, 585-669-2001
• West Sparta (town): 8302 Kysorville-Byersville Road, Dansville, NY 14437, 585-335-2443
• York (town): 2668 Main Street, York, NY 14592, 585-243-3128, ext. 1

The first hearing, called arraignment, usually follows the arrest within roughly 24 hours. Here it is normally held by the local justice for the place of arrest. During it:

• Each charge is announced.
• Defense counsel joins the person, with the county covering the cost for anyone unable to pay.
• Release is decided: own recognizance, conditions, bail or remand.
• Where family violence is alleged, a temporary order of protection can follow (CPL 530.12).
• A next date is set.

An appearance ticket means no jail stop: the person just shows up on the printed date. Felony complaints carry a clock, too. Five days (120 hours) in jail with no grand jury action and no preliminary hearing under way means release, or 144 hours if the span includes a weekend or holiday, apart from narrow exceptions (CPL 180.80).

1. Arraignment, including the first plea.
2. Discovery. Prosecutors owe the defense their evidence on a tight timeline: 20 days for a jailed client, 35 for a free one (CPL 245.10).
3. Return dates for motions and talks between the lawyers.
4. Trial if no agreement is reached. The prosecution's readiness clock is 90 days for class A misdemeanors and 60 for class B (CPL 30.30).
5. Sentence.

Top penalties: a class A misdemeanor brings up to 364 days and a $1,000 fine; a class B, three months and $500 (Penal Law § 70.15, § 80.05). Rather than jail, a judge may choose probation, which runs two or three years for class A, or a conditional discharge, one year of following court rules with no probation officer (Penal Law § 65.00, § 65.05). The District Attorney's Office prosecutes these cases in every town court.

1. Felony complaint and arraignment before the local justice.
2. Preliminary hearing in that local court, unless the District Attorney takes the case straight to a grand jury.
3. Grand jury. With written notice to the DA, the accused may appear as a witness on their own behalf (CPL 190.50).
4. Indictment and County Court arraignment. From here the case belongs to County Court at 2 Court Street, Geneseo, NY 14454, 585-371-3920.
5. Discovery, motions and negotiation. Six months is the trial-readiness deadline for prosecutors (CPL 30.30).
6. Trial or plea, then sentencing.

How long a felony prison term can run, class by class (Penal Law § 70.00):

• A felony: life
• B felony: up to 25 years
• C felony: up to 15 years
• D felony: up to 7 years
• E felony: up to 4 years

Fines can reach $5,000 or double the gain (Penal Law § 80.00). Most felony probation terms run three to five years. Some people charged with felonies tied to drug or alcohol use can be diverted into treatment (CPL Article 216), and the courthouse also hosts a Treatment Court.

• Release. Because violent felonies qualify, a judge here may set bail or order remand.
• Fixed sentences. Sentences are determinate, meaning one fixed length in years, and parole-style supervision follows release (Penal Law § 70.02).
• Class B violent felony, such as first-degree robbery or burglary: 5 to 25 years.
• Class C violent felony, such as second-degree robbery: 3.5 to 15 years.
• Class D violent felony, for example assault in the second degree: a 2-to-7-year prison range.
• Lowest tier, class E: 1.5 to 4 years.
• Orders of protection. When a family-offense felony ends in conviction, the final order may run eight years from sentencing, sometimes longer (CPL 530.12).
• Sealing. CPL 160.59 applications exclude violent felonies.

The elected District Attorney's office prosecutes crimes countywide from the courthouse at 2 Court Street, Geneseo, NY 14454, 585-243-7020, open 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on weekdays.

Two county offices defend people who can't pay:

• Public Defender, Government Center, 6 Court Street, Room 109, Geneseo, NY 14454, 585-243-7028. Anyone still without a lawyer should call. Applications go in online, by mail or fax, or through the window slot, since the door stays locked; bring income proof and court papers.
• Conflict Defender, 6 Court Street, Room B-11, Geneseo, NY 14454, 585-243-7987. Takes cases the Public Defender can't, such as co-defendants, and runs the Assigned Counsel Program for privately appointed lawyers.

A lawyer is guaranteed at arraignment, and income checks come afterward.

WebCrims, the state's online criminal calendar, lists future dates for New York City, Long Island and a group of other courts. For cases in this county, a phone call is the quickest route:

• Felonies after indictment: County Court clerk, 585-371-3920.
• Everything else: whichever justice court appears on the ticket or the release paperwork. The county's town court calendar shows which day each one sits.
• Family Court and youth matters: 585-371-3919.
• Treatment Court participants: the daily drug-screen call-in line, 585-371-3942.
• The person's own lawyer, such as the Public Defender at 585-243-7028, keeps every date.

Have the birth date and correct spelling ready so the clerk can pull the file.

Any police officer in the county can arrest on a warrant, and the Sheriff's Office takes questions about them at 585-243-7100, 4 Court Street, Geneseo, NY 14454. The State Police post fugitive cases on their wanted and missing page. To check by phone or at the counter, contact the court that may have issued it; for felonies, that is the County Court clerk, 2 Court Street, Geneseo, NY 14454, 585-371-3920. Judges generally owe the person 48 hours' warning after a missed date before signing a bench warrant (CPL 510.50). To clear one, bring in defense counsel; the Public Defender picks up at 585-243-7028, then show up side by side at the issuing court, or ask its clerk for a new appearance date.

Federal prosecutions from this county are handled in Rochester, one of the Western District of New York's divisions. Court sits in the Kenneth B. Keating Federal Building, 100 State Street, Rochester, NY 14614, and the clerk answers at 585-613-4000, weekdays 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

• Day one in federal court brings the charges and a ruling on jail until trial. Anyone who can't pay is offered a free lawyer.
• The Federal Public Defender works from 28 East Main Street, Suite 400, Rochester, NY 14614, 585-263-6201.
• Detention turns on the factors in 18 U.S.C. 3142(g): the crime, the evidence, the person's history and ties, and any danger.
• Pretrial custody rests with the U.S. Marshals. Their district office is at 2 Niagara Square, Buffalo, NY 14202, 716-348-5300, and the county jail has had a Marshals agreement to hold federal prisoners.
• Most federal cases, more than nine in ten, end in a guilty plea. A presentence report from probation usually comes before sentencing.
• Case files are on PACER, at $0.10 a page with a $3.00 cap per document. After sentencing, the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator shows where the person is.

The state case keeps to its own schedule. What a detainer changes is the release.

1. A detainer arrives from ICE on Form I-247A.
2. The hold sought lasts up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
3. Officers from the ICE field office in Buffalo, 130 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14202, 716-843-7600, would take custody. ICE also keeps people at 4250 Federal Drive, Batavia, NY 14020, 585-344-6500, its Buffalo (Batavia) Service Processing Center.
4. Find a detained person on the ICE Online Detainee Locator.

State law adds limits. Under People ex rel. Wells v DeMarco (2018), New York officers can't make arrests for civil immigration violations. Under Executive Law § 170-k, all 287(g) agreements lost force as of August 25, 2026. The law also forbids local contracts to detain anyone solely on a civil immigration basis. Civil Rights Law § 28 protects people attending court, plus their family members, from civil arrest coming, going or inside, absent a judicial warrant or court order. Let the defense attorney know about a detainer as early as possible.

A sentence of a year or less is served in the county jail, 4 Court Street, Geneseo, NY 14454, 585-243-7180. Longer felony terms go to DOCCS, the state prison system.

• Once the county declares the person state ready, DOCCS takes them within ten business days.
• They start at a reception center, where they get a DIN (a state ID number), medical and dental checks and a security classification.
• Use the DOCCS Incarcerated Lookup, or call DOCCS at 518-457-5000 during business hours.
• Our New York state prisons guide profiles every facility.

Groveland Correctional Facility, a medium-security state prison for men at 7000 Sonyea Road, Sonyea, NY 14556, 585-658-2871, sits inside the county. DOCCS runs it, not the Sheriff.

• Ages 13 to 15, grave felonies. Children accused of listed crimes such as murder, rape or robbery can be charged as juvenile offenders (CPL 1.20(42)).
• Ages 12 to 17, most other charges. These are juvenile delinquency cases in Family Court (Family Court Act § 301.2).
• Ages 16 and 17, felonies. These "adolescent offender" cases open in the Youth Part (CPL 1.20(44)). On class A and violent felonies, the court decides within six days whether the case stays there (CPL 722.23).
• Ages 16 and 17, misdemeanors. Handled through Probation's intake desk rather than a criminal court.

Youths held in detention get a Family Court hearing fast. The law says 72 hours, or whenever court next opens if that is sooner (Family Court Act § 307.3). Probation's Juvenile Services runs intake and diversion, which can last 90 days plus one 60-day extension. Call Probation at 6 Court Street, Room 101, Geneseo, NY 14454, 585-243-7190, or Family Court at 585-371-3919.

• Victim/Witness Assistance Program, part of the District Attorney's office, 2 Court Street, Geneseo, NY 14454, 585-243-6961. Staff guide victims and witnesses through the case.
• Office of Victim Services, a state agency, may cover some costs a crime caused, including hospital, therapy and burial bills. Help line 800-247-8035.
• Release alerts. Sign up with VINE at 888-846-3469 or on VINELink for word by phone, text or email whenever custody status shifts.
• Orders of protection. Judges in criminal cases involving family offenses may grant a temporary order right at arraignment. If such a case is dropped or pleaded down, prosecutors have a duty to try to reach the victim about filing a Family Court petition (CPL 530.12).