bail

Quick answer: The Los Angeles County felony bail schedule is the Superior Court’s official list of release terms for a person arrested without a warrant on a felony, before that person first appears in court. The current edition, labeled 2026 and effective January 1, 2026, no longer prices every felony in dollars. Many lower level felonies carry $0 bail with one of three release codes: CR (cite and release), BR (book and release) or MR (magistrate review). Most serious and violent felonies, a short list of domestic violence, stalking, threat and witness offenses, and any charge with a qualifying enhancement still carry money bail, such as $50,000 for second degree robbery, $30,000 for assault with a deadly weapon and $2,000,000 for murder without special circumstances. When there are several charges or enhancements, the jail builds a total on the court’s Felony Bail Computation Worksheet. Once the person appears before a judge at arraignment, the schedule stops controlling and the judge decides release.

Updated September 2026. Checked September 28, 2026 against the Superior Court of Los Angeles County’s posted 2026 felony bail schedule, its Pre-Arraignment Release Protocols FAQ, the California Penal Code and the California Supreme Court’s bail decisions. This guide covers adult felony arrests in Los Angeles County. It is general information, not legal advice.

The Los Angeles Felony Bail Schedule at a Glance

In this guide: What the schedule is | How LA moved to release codes | CR, BR and MR | Charges with money bail | The worksheet | Worked examples | Warrants | Arraignment and after | What it costs a family | The data | Family checklist | How Bail Hotline can help | FAQ | Sources

What the Los Angeles Felony Bail Schedule Is

California does not have one statewide felony bail schedule. Penal Code section 1269b says: “It is the duty of the superior court judges in each county to prepare, adopt, and annually revise a uniform countywide schedule of bail.” Each county’s schedule is therefore its own document with its own amounts and rules. Our California bail amounts guide compares schedules across the state. This page stays with Los Angeles County and explains how to read its felony schedule line by line.

The schedule is countywide. The same statute requires that a copy “be sent to the officer in charge of the county jail, to the officer in charge of each city jail.” A felony arrest by a city police department in Los Angeles County and an arrest by the Sheriff’s Department are both measured against the same court document. The agency holding the person applies it.

It is also a pre-arraignment tool. The court’s bail resource page describes the felony schedule as the document “used to determine the circumstances in which a person who is arrested without a warrant may be released from custody prior to appearance in court in a felony case.” The schedule itself repeats the point: its designations “are not binding on judicial officers at arraignment.” Two consequences follow for families:

• It applies before the first court appearance. After that, a judge sets the terms under Penal Code 1269b(b), which says the bail “shall be in the amount fixed by the judge” once the defendant has appeared on the charge.
• It applies to arrests without a warrant. When a judge has already signed a warrant, the amount on the warrant controls. See warrant arrests below.

There is a separate 2026 misdemeanor bail schedule, also effective January 1, 2026, and a separate infraction schedule. The misdemeanor schedule has its own default rule for unlisted misdemeanors and for unlisted offenses that can be charged either as a felony or as a misdemeanor, often called “wobblers”: within that schedule, they are set at $0 and designated CR. Because the two schedules are separate documents, ask the jail whether a wobbler was booked as a felony or as a misdemeanor. The charges prosecutors file for arraignment can also differ from the booking charges.

Where to find the current edition

The court posts the schedule on its criminal bail resources page, which links directly to the 2026 felony bail schedule PDF and to the Felony Bail Computation Worksheet, form LASC CRIM 208. The cover of the felony schedule reads “2026 FELONY BAIL SCHEDULE” and “Eff. January 1, 2026.” The worksheet printed inside it carries the revision mark “Rev. 04/26,” and the court’s law enforcement FAQ describes itself as updated along with revised schedules effective 04/26. Always check the cover date and download the file from the court itself.

Older Los Angeles schedules still appear in search results. One of them, a 2023 edition labeled effective October 18, 2023, is still hosted at the court’s own document address. An old PDF can list a charge differently from the current edition, so do not rely on a copy saved from a forum, a blog or a years-old search result.

How the document is organized

The 2026 schedule has two parts:

1. Section I, the Pre-Arraignment Release Protocol for law enforcement. It contains an introduction, instructions, the computation worksheet, tables of Penal Code, Vehicle Code, Health and Safety Code and Business and Professions Code offenses, and a table of sentence enhancing allegations.
2. Section II, release considerations for judicial officers. It explains how judges use the schedule at and after arraignment, when issuing arrest warrants, and under Penal Code 1270.1.

Each offense table has five columns: the code section, the offense, a “serious or violent” column marked S or V, a citation column showing which statute makes the offense serious or violent, and the “pre-arraignment release protocol” column. That last column holds either a dollar amount or a release code. It is the column most families are looking for.

How Los Angeles Moved From Dollar Amounts to Release Codes

A traditional bail schedule works like a price list, with a dollar figure for each listed charge. The California Supreme Court described the problem in In re Humphrey, decided March 25, 2021. Whether someone stayed in jail before trial, the court wrote, often depended not on an individualized decision about public safety but, as one judge had observed, on “the accused’s ability to post the sum provided in a county’s uniform bail schedule.” It wrote: “The common practice of conditioning freedom solely on whether an arrestee can afford bail is unconstitutional.”

Los Angeles went through several shifts in a short period. The California Policy Lab’s August 27, 2024 study lists three: a return to the county’s normal bail schedule in July 2022, the resumption of the emergency bail schedule in the City of Los Angeles by the Los Angeles Police and Sheriff’s Departments in May 2023 following the Urquidi decision, and the start of the new release protocols countywide in October 2023.

Urquidi v. City of Los Angeles was filed November 14, 2022 by six people who had been held in jail awaiting a decision on the conditions of their release. According to the Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse case summary, Judge Lawrence Riff, presiding over the state court case, granted a preliminary injunction on May 16, 2023, effective May 24, 2023. On July 18, 2023, the Superior Court announced its new pre-arraignment release protocols for nonviolent, non-serious felonies and misdemeanors. Presiding Judge Samantha P. Jessner described the shift as one that “acknowledges the fundamental inequality of money bail.” The protocols took effect October 1, 2023. The 2026 schedule still describes them as the rules that decide whether eligible people arrested in Los Angeles County are released without conditions, released with nonmoney conditions, or held until arraignment.

That history explains a common source of confusion. People hear that Los Angeles “has zero bail” and assume no felony carries money bail. That is not what the schedule says. Many felonies are $0 before arraignment, but a large group of serious charges is not, and enhancements can add money to almost any case. Our explainer on California’s no bail law covers the statewide background.

What CR, BR and MR Mean on the 2026 Schedule

The schedule defines all three codes the same way at the start: people arrested for crimes with the code “are subject to $0 bail and are not required to provide financial conditions of release unless a designated exception applies.” The difference is what happens next.

• CR, cite and release. The person is released on a written promise to appear in court. No money is posted.
• BR, book and release. The person is booked by the arresting agency first and then released on a promise to appear under Penal Code 1318.
• MR, magistrate review. A judicial officer reviews the arrest and decides whether to release the person on their own recognizance, release with conditions, or hold the person until arraignment, applying the factors in Penal Code 1275.

The court’s Pre-Arraignment Release Protocols FAQ for law enforcement gives a sense of MR timing: “Magistrates will begin the review process 4 hours after the arrestee completes a livescan.” It adds that a magistrate’s decision should then be completed within two to four hours. That is guidance to agencies, not a promise to a family. Booking volume, a missing record or a separate hold can stretch it.

Unlisted felonies default to $0. The schedule says that for a state felony “for which there is no protocol provided in this schedule, including unlisted subdivisions, the bail shall be set at zero dollars ($0) and the offense designated as BR.” If a charge is not in the tables, the default is book and release, subject to the same exceptions.

$0 is not the same as “walking out now.” A $0 code answers only one question: what the schedule requires for that charge. A warrant from another case, a probation or parole hold, a hold from another county, a medical need or ordinary processing can keep someone in custody. Government Code 7923.610 makes certain arrest information public, including “The amount of bail set” and “All charges the individual is being held upon, including any outstanding warrants from other jurisdictions, parole holds, and probation holds.” Ask for all of it. Our LA County arrest guide explains how to find the booking and which agency to call.

Who cannot use the $0 codes

The schedule lists three groups that are ineligible for zero-dollar bail:

1. Capital crimes and article I, section 12 offenses. The schedule places people arrested for capital crimes “when the facts are evident or the presumption great,” and for the offenses listed in subsections (b) and (c) of article I, section 12 of the California Constitution, outside the $0 codes. Whether a judge may hold someone with no bail at all is a separate question, explained in our guide to being denied bail.
2. Penal Code 1270.1 offenses. These keep their scheduled dollar amount until a hearing in open court.
3. Any charge with a sentencing enhancement under Penal Code 1269b(e). For those, the schedule says arrestees “must post financial conditions of release (non-zero-dollar amount of bail).”

Exceptions that send a $0 charge to a magistrate

Even when a charge is coded CR or BR, three situations move it to magistrate review:

• Felony supervision. “If an arrestee is booked for an offense listed as CR or BR in the bail schedule and is on an active grant of felony probation, parole, or PRCS at the time of the offense, the arrestee shall be referred to a magistrate for review.” PRCS is post-release community supervision. Our guide to probation violations covers the separate problem of a supervision violation.
• Repeated failures to appear. A CR or BR charge that is one of the crimes listed in Penal Code 1319.5(b)(2) goes to a magistrate when the person has failed to appear, resulting in a warrant, “three or more times over the three years preceding the current arrest.”
• A law enforcement request. Agencies may ask the court’s Pre-Arraignment Support Unit to elevate a CR or BR charge, and the schedule says such a request “may cause the arrestee to be referred to a magistrate for review.”

Which Felonies Still Carry Money Bail in Los Angeles

The table below lists selected rows from the 2026 felony schedule, read from the court’s PDF on September 28, 2026. It shows base amounts only. Enhancements, priors and additional counts are added separately on the worksheet, and a later court order replaces all of it. “1270.1 hearing” means the charge falls within the Penal Code 1270.1 categories, so the person cannot be released on a different amount, or on own recognizance, until a hearing in open court. That last column is our reading of the schedule’s serious or violent markings against those categories. It is not a column in the court’s table.

Two cautions apply to this table. First, a “No” in the last column describes the base charge only. An enhancement, such as a great bodily injury allegation, can bring the case within 1270.1 or add money. Second, the exact subdivision matters. Burglary appears three times with three different results, and robbery twice. A screenshot that says “PC 459” without the degree or circumstances is not enough to know which line applies. Several of these charges have their own guides on our site, including stalking, DUI bail bonds and drug possession bail.

What the 1270.1 list covers

Section II of the schedule restates Penal Code 1270.1, which it says “prohibits the release of an arrestee on bail in an amount other than that set forth in this bail schedule prior to a hearing in open court.” The statute covers four groups:

1. Serious felonies under Penal Code 1192.7(c) and violent felonies under 667.5(c), “but not including a violation of subdivision (a) of Section 460 (residential burglary).” The schedule counts the serious felonies listed in Penal Code 1192.8, such as the DUI line with great bodily injury, within this group.
2. Dissuading a witness when punished under 136.1(c), corporal injury under 273.5, criminal threats under 422 when punished as a felony, and stalking under 646.9.
3. Penal Code 243(e)(1).
4. Penal Code 273.6, but only when the person made threats to kill or harm, engaged in violence against, or went to the home or workplace of the protected party.

That residential burglary exclusion is why the schedule labels its first degree burglary line a non-1270.1(a)(1) crime.

For those charges, the quick telephone route to lower bail is not available. Penal Code 1269c excludes offenses listed in 1270.1(a) from its application for lower bail or own recognizance release, and the court’s law enforcement FAQ says: “Requests to reduce the designated money bail are not available prior to arraignment for offenses listed within Penal Code section 1270.1(a).” The route is a hearing in open court. Section 1270.1 says the prosecuting attorney and defense attorney “shall be given a two-court-day written notice and an opportunity to be heard.” If the person has no lawyer, the court appoints one for that hearing, and the hearing must be held within the time Penal Code 825 allows for a first appearance. The court considers past court appearances, the maximum possible sentence, the danger to other people, including any threats and past violence, and any evidence the person offers about community ties and ability to post bond. A judge who sets an amount above or below the schedule must state the reasons on the record. Our guide to preparing for a bail hearing explains what to gather. Domestic violence charges have their own considerations, covered in our domestic violence bail guide.

How the Felony Bail Computation Worksheet Builds a Total

When charges carry money bail, the jail does not simply add every number on the booking sheet. The court’s worksheet, reproduced in the schedule and posted as form LASC CRIM 208, sets the order.

1. List every offense. The worksheet starts with the arrestee’s name and all booked offenses.
2. Start with the highest base amount. Line 3a is the single offense with the highest scheduled amount.
3. Add other counts only in specific situations. Line 3b adds the amounts for additional offenses “committed against separate victims OR” on separate dates. Line 3c adds separate sex acts against the same victim when each may be punished separately. Otherwise, “base bail is only the bail amount for the offense listed in 3a.”
4. Add enhancements. Lines 4 through 8c add fixed amounts for alleged enhancements, listed in the next table.
5. Total. Line 9 adds lines 3a through 8c. The form also asks whether law enforcement opposes own recognizance release and says any deviation request must be attached.

Three worksheet rules change the math more than families expect:

• Weapons count once. Line 5 says to add “only the greatest” of the four weapon amounts, not all of them.
• Supervision counts once. Line 8b is marked “Add only once,” even if the person is on probation and also has pending felony charges.
• The life term line has conditions. Line 8c adds $1,000,000 for an offense that carries a possible life term only if the base bail is under $1,000,000 and neither the great bodily injury line nor the supervision line applies.

How codes and dollar amounts combine

The schedule has four rules for bookings with more than one charge or allegation:

1. When the charges carry different release codes, “pre-arraignment release protocol shall be determined by the strictest release protocol designated.” A BR charge and an MR charge together mean magistrate review.
2. When one charge has a release code and another has a dollar amount, release “shall be determined by the financial condition of release designated for each crime.” The money charge controls.
3. When a $0 charge comes with an enhancement that requires money, release “shall be determined by the financial condition of release designated by the applicable enhancement.”
4. When several charges or enhancements all require money, the worksheet sets the total, adding separate counts only for separate victims, separate dates or separately punishable sex acts.

Why the jail’s number may not match your own math

Families who work through the tables sometimes arrive at a different number than the one the jail gives them. Common reasons:

• An enhancement or prior you did not know about. Law enforcement may allege a weapon, an injury or a prior conviction that does not show in a short booking summary.
• Supervision status. Probation, parole or pending felony charges add $25,000 on a money bail case, or send a $0 charge to magistrate review.
• A warrant. A warrant amount is set by a judge and can differ from the schedule.
• A deviation. Law enforcement may have asked a magistrate to raise the amount, or a family request may have lowered it.
• A court order. After arraignment, the judge’s number replaces the schedule entirely.
• A second case. Bail posted on one case does not release a person held on another.

When in doubt, ask for each charge by code section and subdivision, each enhancement, the stated amount per charge and any hold.

Four Hypothetical Bookings Worked Through the Schedule

These examples are invented to show how the 2026 schedule reads. They are not real cases, legal advice or predictions. In a real case, law enforcement and the court decide which charges and allegations apply.

Hypothetical 1: Grand theft with no complications

A man is arrested without a warrant and booked for grand theft over $950 under Penal Code 487(a). He is not on probation or parole, has no pending felony cases and has no recent history of missed court dates. No enhancement is alleged.

The schedule lists 487(a) as BR. Absent an exception, bail is $0 and he is released after booking with a promise to appear. His family’s job is to confirm the court date and location, and to make sure no separate hold exists.

Change one fact: he was on felony probation at the time of the offense. The same BR charge now goes to magistrate review, where a judicial officer decides whether to release him, release him with conditions or hold him until arraignment. Any question about the probation case itself is a separate matter for his attorney.

Hypothetical 2: Robbery with a knife while on probation

A woman is booked for second degree robbery under Penal Code 211, with an allegation that she personally used a knife under 12022(b)(1). She is on felony probation.

• Line 3a, second degree robbery: $50,000
• Line 5d, personal use of a weapon other than a firearm: $20,000
• Line 8b, felony probation, added once: $25,000
• Line 9, total: $95,000

Robbery is a serious and violent felony, so it is on the 1270.1 list. Before arraignment, that amount cannot be lowered by a telephone request, and own recognizance release is not available until a hearing in open court.

Hypothetical 3: Two residential burglaries on different dates

A young man is booked on two counts of first degree residential burglary with a person present, alleged to have happened on two different dates. No enhancement is alleged, and he is not on supervision.

• Line 3a, first count: $50,000
• Line 3b, second count on a separate date: $50,000
• Line 9, total: $100,000

If both counts had been alleged against the same victim on the same date, line 3b would not apply, and the base would stay at $50,000. The schedule labels this burglary line as a non-1270.1(a)(1) crime, so an attorney, friend or family member may ask the magistrate for lower bail or release under Penal Code 1269c, as described in our bail deviation guide.

Hypothetical 4: A DUI where one allegation changes everything

A driver is arrested after a crash and booked for DUI causing bodily injury under Vehicle Code 23153. The schedule lists that line as MR: $0 bail with magistrate review.

If the arresting agency instead books the separate listed form of the charge, DUI causing injury with personal infliction of great bodily injury on someone other than an accomplice, the schedule lists $100,000. The schedule marks that line as a serious felony under Penal Code 1192.8, which brings it within the 1270.1 hearing rule. The same crash can produce two very different pre-arraignment results depending on what is alleged. That is why the exact charge wording on the booking record matters.

Warrant Arrests Follow a Different Rule

The court describes its protocol as designating release orders for “a person arrested without a warrant.” A warrant arrest is different. When a judge issues an arrest warrant under Penal Code 815a, the schedule says the judicial officer “may use this protocol in setting a financial condition of release.” The amount “lies within the sound discretion of the judicial officer,” who may use the protocol amounts or the guideline amounts in Section II.

Penal Code 815a itself tells the judge to fix bail that is “reasonable and sufficient for the appearance of the defendant” and to endorse the amount on the warrant. In practice, that means:

• The amount endorsed on the warrant is the starting number, not the schedule line for the charge.
• The judge who signed the warrant may have used a figure above or below the schedule.
• The pre-arraignment release codes are written for arrests without a warrant, so a $0 code for the charge does not replace the amount on the warrant.

If someone learns there is a warrant before an arrest, our guide to posting bail on an outstanding warrant explains the options. If the warrant came from a missed court date, our failure to appear guide covers what follows.

What Changes at Arraignment

Under Penal Code 825, an arrested person must be taken before a magistrate “without unnecessary delay, and, in any event, within 48 hours after his or her arrest, excluding Sundays and holidays.” When that deadline falls while the court is not in session, it extends to the next session. Our guides to how long it takes to see a judge and getting bailed out on the weekend walk through that clock.

At arraignment, Section II of the schedule gives the judge full discretion. The amount of bail or conditions of release “shall lie with the sound discretion of the judicial officer before whom the defendant appears, and may be greater or less than the amount set forth in this schedule,” subject to Penal Code 1275. The court’s FAQ adds that the arraignment judge “is not bound by pre-arraignment orders made by a magistrate.”

What the judge weighs

Penal Code 1275 lists “the protection of the public, the seriousness of the offense charged, the previous criminal record of the defendant, and the probability of his or her appearing at trial.” It adds: “The public safety shall be the primary consideration.” For a serious or violent felony, a judge who sets bail below the schedule “shall make a finding of unusual circumstances,” and the statute says unusual circumstances “does not include the fact that the defendant has made all prior court appearances or has not committed any new offenses.”

Money bail must also respect the constitutional limits the California Supreme Court has set. Humphrey requires that “the court must consider the arrestee’s ability to pay the stated amount of bail” when a financial condition is necessary. In In re Kowalczyk, decided April 30, 2026, the court held that, as a general matter, “bail must be set in an amount reasonably attainable for the defendant” and that “courts cannot use artificially high or objectively unattainable bail as an end run to effectuate pretrial detention.” The court also made clear that this does not mean bail must be easily affordable or convenient, and judges need not accept unsupported claims of inability to pay. Reliable financial information matters.

A $0 charge can carry money bail later

This point surprises many families. Section II of the schedule says a judge may use the protocol to set financial conditions “at arraignment or future court proceedings when there is a change in circumstance or as permitted by statute,” and it gives these guideline amounts for charges that were $0 before arraignment:

These are guidelines a judge may use, not automatic amounts. They mean a release on a $0 code is not a promise that money bail will never come up in the case. The schedule allows a judge to use them at arraignment or at a later hearing when circumstances change or a statute permits. Keeping every court date and condition is the most reliable way to protect a release.

Changing the amount before arraignment

Before arraignment, a family can try to change the scheduled terms. The court’s FAQ says an attorney, friend or family member may ask for lower bail or own recognizance release “by calling the Pre-Arraignment Support Unit at the number above within two hours of booking.” The number is (213) 633-6350. Law enforcement can use the same unit to ask for more. Our Los Angeles bail deviation guide covers that procedure in detail, including the eight hour rule in Penal Code 1269c and what to prepare.

After arraignment, a change usually needs a motion in the courtroom handling the case. Our guides to whether a judge can raise bail, what counts as excessive bail and release on own recognizance explain the options.

What a Scheduled Amount Means for the Family

A scheduled amount is what the court requires to be guaranteed. It is not automatically what a family pays out of pocket. The main ways to meet a money bail amount are:

• Cash bail. The full amount is deposited with the court or jail. How and when it comes back is explained in our cash bond versus bail guide.
• A surety bail bond. A licensed bail agent posts a bond for the full amount. The family pays a premium and signs an agreement, and sometimes pledges collateral. The California Department of Insurance says: “Each surety company must file rates with CDI and bail agents representing a surety must charge the same filed rates.” The same page says: “Premiums are nonrefundable even if charges are dropped.” Our guide to what it costs to bail someone out, our payment plan guide and our guide to what happens to bail money if charges are dropped explain the pieces.
• A $0 release code or own recognizance release. No money is posted, but the person signs a promise to appear and must follow any conditions.

Before anyone pays for a bond, confirm that money bail is actually required. If every charge is coded CR, BR or MR and no enhancement applies, the schedule does not require money bail for those charges before arraignment.

The stakes are high in a felony case. Under Penal Code 1320.5, a person charged with a felony who is released on bail and willfully fails to appear to evade the court’s process commits a separate felony. The statute adds: “Willful failure to appear within 14 days of the date assigned for appearance may be found to have been for the purpose of evading the process of the court.” A missed date can also start the forfeiture process covered in our bail forfeiture guide. Anyone signing as a cosigner should read our explanation of a cosigner’s role first.

What the Data Says About Los Angeles’ Release Codes

Three dated sources give a sense of how the codes work in practice. Each measures something different, and none predicts what will happen to one person.

The court’s first three weeks. In an October 30, 2023 release, the court reported on 5,113 bookings from October 1 to 21, 2023. It said 40% fell under traditional money bail, 27% went to magistrate review, 14% were cite and release, 8% were book and release, and 11% were other. Magistrates reviewed 1,213 cases, releasing 435 people (36%) and holding 778 (64%) until arraignment. The court noted that the data “does not count unique individuals” and “does not capture the actual custody status,” and it excluded people cited in the field or arrested on warrants.

An independent short term study. The California Policy Lab, in a report published August 27, 2024, used Sheriff’s Department jail data for the county and Los Angeles Police Department crime and arrest data for the city. After the October 2023 change, it found “The daily pretrial jail population decreased by over 200 people (or three percent) on average,” with “no change in any measure of reported crime during the same period.” The authors cautioned that “if changes in crime or arrests take longer than two months to appear, we will not observe them here.”

The court’s one year report. On March 28, 2025, the court released a report it described as showing the protocols remained effective one year after implementation, including a reduction in new criminal activity. That is the court evaluating its own program, so read it alongside independent research. The same release said: “The number of cash bail eligible bookings as a result of serious and violent offenses remains the same at 40% of all bookings.”

For families, the useful takeaway is that 40% figure. Money bail still applies to a large share of Los Angeles bookings, even under a schedule known for its $0 codes. Our page on California bail statistics covers wider data.

What Families Should Do

1. Get the booking details. Find the legal name, booking number, holding facility and arresting agency. The California inmate locator guide and our LA County arrest guide explain the official lookups.
2. Write down every charge exactly. Record each code section with its subdivision, each enhancement and the amount or code listed for each.
3. Ask whether the arrest was on a warrant. If so, the warrant amount controls.
4. Ask about holds and supervision. Probation, parole, a pending felony case or another county’s hold can change both the code and the total.
5. Check the current schedule. Use the court’s 2026 PDF and worksheet, and ignore old copies.
6. Act inside the two hour window if a change is realistic. For charges not on the 1270.1 list, the Pre-Arraignment Support Unit takes family requests at (213) 633-6350 within two hours of booking.
7. Contact a defense attorney. A lawyer can address a 1270.1 hearing, ability to pay under Humphrey and Kowalczyk, and the arraignment.
8. Confirm money bail is needed before paying. A $0 code with no enhancement does not require a bond before arraignment.
9. Plan for the next court date. Put the date, courthouse and conditions in writing. A missed date can bring a warrant and, later, financial conditions that did not exist before. Our guide to what happens after posting bond covers the first days after release.

How Bail Hotline Can Help

Everything above this section is written to be useful whether or not you ever call us. This is the one place we talk about ourselves. Bail Hotline has been family-owned since 2004 and is licensed through our parent company, DMCG, Inc., with the California Department of Insurance, license #1845394. Our team answers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, at (888) 958-1228.

When the felony total comes back in six figures, this is where we do our best work

A felony schedule can produce a number that stops a family cold: $100,000, $150,000 or more once enhancements and priors are added. That is exactly the moment we are built for. A large, complicated or out-of-county bond is not an automatic no with us. We look at the actual case and work through it with you.

• We find the booking fast, at no charge. Our agents gather inmate information for every jail quickly and at no charge, and every office holds jail-system accounts.
• Dedicated posting agents work around the clock. When a bond is approved, our 24/7 posting agents handle the bond side of the release.
• Every cosigner gets a walkthrough. Before anyone signs, we walk the cosigner through the agreement so the family understands what it is agreeing to.
• Court-date reminders by text. A felony case can involve many court dates, and clients receive text reminders for them.
• Warrant walk-throughs. If a warrant issues, or the arrest itself was on a warrant, we walk the family through the next steps.
• A way out for cosigners in good standing. A cosigner may sign out of a bond in good standing, meaning no past-due payments and a defendant who is not missing court or daily online check-ins. We explain how that works case by case.

Every case is different. The judge makes the release decision, the agency holding the person handles custody procedures, and we cannot promise a particular result, amount or release time. Honest mistakes and willful conduct are treated differently by courts, and prompt communication helps.

Bail Hotline offices serving Los Angeles County

Call before traveling. You can also start with our online bail bonds page, see every office in the locations directory, or read the bail FAQ for general questions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there zero bail for felonies in Los Angeles County?

For many felonies, yes, but only before arraignment and only if no exception applies. The 2026 schedule codes many lower level felonies CR, BR or MR at $0. Most serious and violent felonies, 1270.1 offenses and any charge with a qualifying enhancement still require money bail, and a judge can set financial conditions later.

How much is bail for a felony in Los Angeles County?

It depends on the exact charge and allegations. Under the 2026 schedule, examples include $2,000,000 for murder without special circumstances, $100,000 for carjacking, $50,000 for second degree robbery, $50,000 for criminal threats and $30,000 for assault with a deadly weapon. Enhancements and priors add fixed amounts on the worksheet.

Where can I find the Los Angeles County felony bail schedule?

The Superior Court posts it on its criminal bail resources page, with a direct link to the 2026 PDF and to the Felony Bail Computation Worksheet. Check that the cover says 2026 and “Eff. January 1, 2026” before relying on it.

What do CR, BR and MR mean on a Los Angeles booking?

CR is cite and release, BR is book and release, and MR is magistrate review. All three mean $0 bail under the schedule unless an exception applies. With MR, a judicial officer decides whether to release the person, release with conditions or hold the person until arraignment.

How is bail calculated when there are several charges?

The worksheet starts with the single highest scheduled amount. Other counts are added only when they involve separate victims, separate dates or separately punishable sex acts. Enhancements add fixed amounts, weapons count once at the highest applicable amount, and supervision status adds $25,000 once.

Does the bail schedule still apply after arraignment?

No. The schedule’s pre-arraignment amounts and codes “are not binding on judicial officers at arraignment.” The judge sets the terms, which may be higher or lower than the schedule, and must follow the constitutional ability-to-pay rules the California Supreme Court set out in Humphrey and Kowalczyk.

Why is the bail on the booking record higher than the schedule line?

Common reasons include an enhancement, a prior conviction, supervision status, an additional count against a separate victim or on a separate date, a warrant amount or a deviation order. Ask the jail for each charge and enhancement with its listed amount.

Can the scheduled amount be lowered before court?

For many charges, an attorney, friend or family member can ask for lower bail or own recognizance release by calling the Pre-Arraignment Support Unit at (213) 633-6350 within two hours of booking. For charges on the 1270.1 list, release on a lower amount or on own recognizance requires a hearing in open court first. A magistrate decides, and there is no guaranteed result.

Does the Los Angeles schedule apply to arrests by city police departments?

Yes. Penal Code 1269b requires a uniform countywide schedule, and a copy goes to the county jail and to each city jail. City police and the Sheriff’s Department apply the same court schedule to felony arrests without a warrant.

How often does Los Angeles update its felony bail schedule?

Penal Code 1269b requires judges to “annually revise” the schedule. The current edition is labeled 2026 and effective January 1, 2026, and its worksheet carries the revision mark “Rev. 04/26.” Check the court’s page for the newest edition.

Why We Publish This

The phrase “Los Angeles felony bail schedule” sounds like a simple price list. Since October 2023 it has been a set of release codes, money bail rules, exceptions and a worksheet, and families searching late at night often find old copies or oversimplified answers. This guide explains how to read the current document so a family can ask the jail, the court and a lawyer the right questions. It is general information, not legal advice. For advice about a particular case, talk to a qualified criminal defense attorney.

Sources and Further Reading

Los Angeles court documents

• 2026 Felony Bail Schedule, effective January 1, 2026, Superior Court of Los Angeles County.
• Felony Bail Computation Worksheet, form LASC CRIM 208.
• 2026 Misdemeanor Bail Schedule, effective January 1, 2026.
• Pre-Arraignment Release Protocols FAQ for law enforcement.
• Superior Court criminal bail resources page.
• Superior Court news release, July 18, 2023: new pre-arraignment release protocols.

California law

• Penal Code 1269b, 1269c and 1270.1: county schedules, early changes and the open-court hearing rule.
• Penal Code 825, 815a and 1275: first appearance, warrants and bail factors.
• Penal Code 1318, 1319.5 and 1320.5: release agreements, repeat failures to appear and felony failure to appear on bail.
• Government Code 7923.610: public arrest information, including bail.
• California Constitution, article I, section 12.

Court decisions

• In re Humphrey (2021) 11 Cal.5th 135, decided March 25, 2021.
• In re Kowalczyk, decided April 30, 2026.
• Urquidi v. City of Los Angeles, Civil Rights Litigation Clearinghouse case summary.

Research and data

• California Policy Lab, Short-Term Impacts of Bail Policy on Crime in Los Angeles, August 27, 2024.
• Superior Court news release, October 30, 2023: early data on the protocols.
• Superior Court news release, March 28, 2025: one year report on the protocols.

Consumer information

• California Department of Insurance: Bail Bonds.