Two levels of state court share the work in this county:

• Magisterial district courts. There are 18, each led by a district judge. Summary offenses are theirs to decide, for example traffic tickets, disorderly conduct and small retail thefts. They also set bail. In misdemeanor and felony cases, they run the first two hearings too. Together they see about 130,000 cases a year, about 10,000 of them criminal.
• Court of Common Pleas. Locally it is called the 7th Judicial District, and its reach stops at the county line. Its 15 judges take misdemeanors and felonies once a district court sends them up. They also rehear summary cases on appeal, as a brand-new trial.

Juvenile cases are heard in a division of Common Pleas. Federal crimes go to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

The Court of Common Pleas meets in the Justice Center, 100 North Main Street, Doylestown, PA 18901. Its main line is 215-348-6000. Offices you may need inside:

• Clerk of Courts, 215-348-6389. Keeps criminal records, takes bail, and collects fines, costs and restitution. Open weekdays 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., closed on holidays. Ask here about payment plans for past-due court costs.
• Court Administrator, 215-348-6700. The court's main administration office, which also runs the district courts.
• District Court administration, second floor.
• District Attorney, second floor, 215-348-6344.
• Public Defender, first floor, 215-348-6473.
• Sheriff's Office, Floor B2, 215-348-6124. Open weekdays 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Deputies guard the courtrooms and bring prisoners to court.

The court also oversees Adult Probation, Juvenile Probation, Domestic Relations and the Law Library.

There are no city or borough courts in this county. Local ordinance cases, traffic tickets and first hearings all go to a magisterial district court. Each court covers a set group of towns, shown on the county's district court map. The court's number is also printed on the docket and the summons.

Southern end of the county

• 07-1-01: 2404 Byberry Road, Bensalem, PA 19020, 215-638-1040
• 07-1-12: 3101 Bristol Road, Suite 7, Bensalem, PA 19020, 215-741-3501
• 07-1-02: 501 Bath Street, Bristol, PA 19007, 215-785-3521
• 07-1-03: 3030 Bath Road, Bristol, PA 19007, 215-788-5561
• 07-1-04: 7325 New Falls Road, Levittown, PA 19055, 215-943-9414
• 07-1-08: 2661 Trenton Road, Levittown, PA 19056, 215-946-5450
• 07-1-07: 142 Centre Street, Penndel, PA 19047, 215-757-6761
• 07-1-10: 9187 New Falls Road, Fallsington, PA 19054, 215-736-0231
• 07-1-11: 31 East Cleveland Avenue, Morrisville, PA 19067, 215-736-1121

Middle of the county

• 07-1-09: 567 Newtown Road, Warminster, PA 18974, 215-672-5853
• 07-2-01: 60 Township Road, Richboro, PA 18954, 215-322-0144
• 07-2-02: 1277 Almshouse Road, Warrington, PA 18976, 215-343-7961
• 07-2-07: 28 North State Street, Newtown, PA 18940, 215-968-1657
• 07-2-08: 962 Town Center, New Britain, PA 18901, 215-230-7265
• 07-3-01: 4001 Durham Road (Route 413), Doylestown, PA 18902, 215-345-7516
• 07-3-02: 1720 Kendarbren Drive, Suite 711, Jamison, PA 18929, 215-343-0627

Northern end of the county

• 07-2-05: 281 California Road, Quakertown, PA 18951, 215-536-9650
• 07-3-03: 276 Tabor Road, Ottsville, PA 18942, 610-847-5164

Fines and costs owed to a district court can be paid online through the UJS portal or in person in that court's lobby.

The first hearing is the preliminary arraignment. The state's victim services office says it usually happens within six hours of the arrest. A district judge runs it. Many are done over a video link from the jail.

• A copy of the complaint is handed over and the charges are read.
• The judge explains their rights, including the right to a lawyer.
• Bail or another type of release is set.
• A date is set for the preliminary hearing. Rule 540 sets the limit: 14 days for someone still jailed, 21 days for someone out.

Some people never see this hearing right away. Police may release them and the court mails a summons instead. Anyone the judge keeps goes to the county jail campus, which answers at 215-345-3700:

• Main Correctional Facility, 1730 South Easton Road, Doylestown, PA 18901. Every new arrival is processed and classified here. Men waiting for trial or serving a sentence stay at medium or maximum security.
• Women's Correctional Facility, 1730 South Easton Road, Doylestown, PA 18901. This connected building holds all women, including those on work release.
• Men's Community Corrections Center, 1270 Almshouse Road, Doylestown, PA 18901. Men on low-security work release live here.

Public Defender staff work from an office inside the jail and meet new arrivals.

A summary offense is the lowest charge. The district judge holds the trial. After a guilty finding, the person has 30 days to appeal to Common Pleas for a new trial.

A misdemeanor goes further. It gets a preliminary hearing at the district court and then moves to Common Pleas. The most a judge can give (18 Pa.C.S. §§ 1101, 1104):

• M1: up to 5 years and $10,000
• M2: up to 2 years and $5,000
• M3: up to 1 year and $2,500
• Summary offense: up to 90 days and $300

Under 75 Pa.C.S. § 3803, the lowest DUI tier is a misdemeanor for a first or second offense, with a six-month cap on jail. Higher alcohol levels, refusals and more past offenses raise the grade. DUI laws changed often in recent years, so ask the lawyer about the current penalty. Many first DUIs end through ARD, a county diversion program run by the District Attorney.

Most felony cases follow this path in this county:

1. Preliminary arraignment at the district court, where bail is set.
2. Preliminary hearing before the district judge where the charges were filed. A prima facie case is required from the prosecutor. The Latin phrase means at first sight. The evidence has to show a crime likely took place and the person probably committed it. The defense may waive this hearing.
3. Information. This is the DA's formal charging paper. Counts can still be added or removed here.
4. Formal arraignment in Common Pleas, about four weeks after the preliminary hearing.
5. Pretrial conference. Plea deals are often worked out here.
6. Trial before 12 jurors who must all agree, or before a judge alone.
7. Sentencing, after the probation office writes a report on the person.

Top penalties (18 Pa.C.S. § 1103): F1 up to 20 years and $25,000, F2 up to 10 years and $25,000, F3 up to 7 years and $15,000.

The most serious cases face stricter rules from the first day:

• Bail may be denied. A judge can refuse bail for a charge that carries death or life in prison, or when no release rules could protect the public. The prosecutor must prove it with evidence (Commonwealth v. Talley, 2021).
• Murder. First degree means death or life in prison. Second degree means life (18 Pa.C.S. § 1102).
• Teens in adult court. Murder, and some violent crimes with a deadly weapon, move youths aged 15 to 17 into the adult system from day one.
• Stay-away rules. A friend or relative who signed as surety must report broken stay-away or protection orders to police within 24 hours (42 Pa.C.S. § 5750).
• State prison. A maximum term of five years or more must be served in state prison (42 Pa.C.S. § 9762).

Diversion lets some people finish a program instead of getting a conviction. The Public Defender's diversion page lists these:

• ARD (Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition). For first-time offenders, often in a first DUI. The DA decides who is offered it, and a judge approves (Pa.R.Crim.P. 310). The person waives the preliminary hearing and files the forms with the district court by the hearing date. Fees are $1,100 with a private lawyer, or $550 for DUI and $350 for other charges with the Public Defender or no lawyer. Expect at least 10 hours of community service and costs paid within 11 months. Finished ARD cases from after April 1, 2013 are erased from the record on their own. Read the DA's ARD page or call the ARD unit at 215-348-6660.
• District Court Diversion. For misdemeanor drug charges. It means 60 to 90 days of treatment plus court costs, for county residents with no record.
• Drug Court. Four years of probation in four phases, for residents with a substance use disorder and no violent past.
• Veterans program. For veterans with an honorable discharge who live with PTSD, a substance use disorder, a brain injury or military sexual trauma.
• Youthful Offenders Program. For ages 18 to 24 with a first, nonviolent felony. The fee is $6,500, and scholarships exist.

Every state criminal case here is brought by the District Attorney's Office. Its office is one level up from the lobby, second floor, in the Justice Center at 100 North Main Street, Doylestown, PA 18901, 215-348-6344. County detectives work inside this office.

The Public Defender's Office is on the first floor of that building, at the same street address, 215-348-6473. To apply:

1. Phone the office and ask for an application.
2. Sign the form that arrives by email and send it back.
3. Wait for a paralegal's call about whether you qualify.

Representation starts only once every step is done. State law gives each county outside Philadelphia a public defender, and the person swears to their income on a form (16 P.S. § 9960.1 and following). Each county sets its own income test.

Every adult criminal case filed in a district court or Common Pleas appears on the free UJS Web Portal. No account is needed.

1. Choose to search by participant name, or by docket number if you have it.
2. Enter the person's last and first names, then choose this county in the drop-down.
3. Open the docket sheet. It shows the charges, bail, court dates and the courtroom.

Recent filings may lag. The portal leaves out juvenile matters and any case that was sealed or expunged. For a Common Pleas date, call the Clerk of Courts at 215-348-6389. For a district court date, call the court on the docket. To see whether the person is still jailed, use the county inmate lookup instead.

Sheriff's deputies handle bench warrants out of Common Pleas, while police and constables carry out the rest. Call the Sheriff's Criminal Warrants Division at 215-348-6126, or see its warrants page and CrimeWatch page. The county also posts support warrants and a Domestic Relations Top Ten. Wider lists include the State Police Ten Most Wanted, FBI wanted fugitives and the Marshals' 15 Most Wanted. To clear a warrant, get a lawyer or the Public Defender, then reach the court that signed it. For Common Pleas, that is the Clerk of Courts at 100 North Main Street, Doylestown, PA 18901, 215-348-6389.

Federal cases from here belong to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Their courthouse is the James A. Byrne U.S. Courthouse, 601 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106, 215-597-7704.

• Federal court opens with a detention hearing. Its outcome decides where the person lives while the case is open (18 U.S.C. 3142).
• The U.S. Attorney's Office prosecutes from 615 Chestnut Street, Suite 1250, Philadelphia, PA 19106, 215-861-8200.
• The Federal Community Defender helps people who can't pay, at 601 Walnut Street, Suite 540 West, Philadelphia, PA 19106, 215-928-1100.
• Deputy marshals hold and move federal prisoners. Their office is at 601 Market Street, Room 2110, Philadelphia, PA 19106, 215-597-7272.
• Sentenced federal prisoners appear on the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator.

Charges filed by the DA move ahead with or without ICE. The hold matters the moment bail is paid, the case ends or a sentence runs out.

1. ICE mails or sends the county a Form I-247A. It is a request to hold the person.
2. Under 8 CFR 287.7(d), the hold can last up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released.
3. The leading case is Galarza v. Szalczyk (3d Cir. 2014). That federal appeals ruling calls a detainer a request, not a command. A county holding someone on a detainer alone can answer for it. For that reason, every county jail makes its own rule. To learn this jail's policy, call 215-345-3700.
4. Once ICE takes the person, the Philadelphia Field Office has the case. It is at 114 North 8th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, 215-656-7164.
5. Find them through the ICE Online Detainee Locator.

A Pennsylvania sentence has a minimum and a maximum. The maximum picks the place (42 Pa.C.S. § 9762). A maximum below 2 years is served in the county jail. A maximum of 5 years or longer goes to state prison. Between 2 and 5 years usually means state prison too, unless the county jail, the prosecutor and the judge each sign off on a local stay.

• New state prisoners first go to one of the state's reception and classification centers for weeks or months. Then they move to a prison that fits them.
• The state inmate locator shows where they are.
• The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections main office is at 1920 Technology Parkway, Mechanicsburg, PA 17050, 717-728-2573.
• Read our Pennsylvania state prisons pages for each prison.
• People on county probation report to Adult Probation and Parole, Courthouse, 30 East Court Street, Floor 2, Doylestown, PA 18901, 215-348-6634.

Under the Juvenile Act (42 Pa.C.S. § 6301 and following), a person under 18 usually goes to juvenile court, not adult court. The Clerk of Courts keeps juvenile delinquency records, and these cases stay off the public portal.

• Juvenile Probation, 30 East Court Street, Floor 3, Doylestown, PA 18901, 215-348-6514, handles intake and supervision.
• Teens who must be detained stay at the Youth Center, 1750 Easton Road, Doylestown, PA 18901, 215-340-8300. It is a 36-bed secure detention center.
• Some cases start in adult court. These are murder, and certain violent crimes with a deadly weapon by a teen 15 or older. The defense may file to transfer it to juvenile court.

Parents should phone juvenile probation first. That office knows the teen's location and the date of the next hearing.

The Crime Victims Act (18 P.S. § 11.101 and following) gives victims a voice in the case. They can:

• learn about services and be told of major court steps
• comment on bail conditions
• in injury and burglary cases, comment on plea deals and the sentence
• in injury cases, be told when the accused leaves the county jail

The DA's Victim/Witness page lists local help. The office is at 100 North Main Street, Doylestown, PA 18901, 215-348-6344. Free release alerts come from PA SAVIN on VINELink or 866-972-7284 (TTY 866-847-1298). The state's victim compensation program helps with crime costs at 800-233-2339.

Relatives of the accused should keep clear of the victim. Sending word through friends counts as contact too, and it can break bail rules.