Following an arrest, the booking process can take anywhere from less than an hour to several hours, depending on:
- the police station’s booking procedures,
- how many people are being booked, and
- how many officers there are to handle the bookings.
After the booking process, you could be released on own recognizance or after posting bail. Otherwise, you would stay in jail until the arraignment.
The booking process
The booking process is what happens after your arrest but before your arraignment. It is when police officers record lots of different information about you, including:
- your name,
- your contact information, and
- the offense that you were arrested for.
Many jail officials will also ask about any gang affiliations that you have. They may ask this in order to decide where to put you in jail, if you will have to be held until your arraignment. In most states, your response can be used against you in trial, even if you were not told your Miranda rights.[1] In California, though, you must have been Mirandized first:
“Officers should have known these questions were reasonably likely to elicit an incriminating response because of California’s criminal gang statutes and defendant’s pending charges. While officers were permitted to ask these questions for institutional security purposes, defendant’s un-Mirandized responses were inadmissible against him…”[2]
Law enforcement officers will also take your fingerprints and your mug shot. To protect the jail population, you may have to go through a health screening process that includes:
- x-rays, to check for tuberculosis,
- providing a DNA sample, and
- taking a blood test.
Police will likely do a full body search to ensure that all of your personal property is confiscated. They can require you to strip off your clothes to submit to the search. The United States Supreme Court has ruled that this strip search does not violate your civil rights, even if you were only arrested for a minor offense.[3]
Your personal items will be returned to you when you leave jail unless they are used as evidence or illegal contraband.
During this time, police will be checking for any outstanding warrants against you.
The criminal defense attorneys at our law office have found that this typically takes 1 or 2 hours for most arrestees.
Even if you received a citation, the citation generally gives you several days to show up in-person at the local police department of sheriff’s office for the booking process.
Booking creates an arrest record
It is during the booking process that your arrest is recorded. The official arrest record will likely show up on criminal background checks if you do not take the steps necessary to get it expunged.
Having an arrest on your criminal record can make it more difficult to:
- rent an apartment,
- get a loan, or
- get a job.
Discriminating against someone because of their criminal history is legal in the U.S.
After getting booked
After you have been booked, the next step in the process is pre-trial release. This is how the American criminal justice system ensures that you show up to the required court appearances for your case. It often involves bail. How pre-trial release ends up working in your case will depend mainly on:
- your state and local jurisdiction’s policies, and
- the type and the severity of the offense for which you were arrested.
In some states that have implemented bail reform laws, certain non-violent offenses are not cash bailable. This means you must be released on your own recognizance or in some other form of minimally intrusive confinement. Under an own recognizance release, also known as “O-R,” you would sign a written promise to appear in the future rather than posting bail.
In states that have not enacted bail reform measures, own recognizance release is still used in many low-level offenses, like misdemeanors.
Some jurisdictions use a bail schedule. This schedule sets a standard bail amount for certain common crimes. You will be released after booking if you post the applicable amount with the court. If you make all of your required court dates, the money will be returned to you.
If neither of these is an option, you will be held in a holding cell until your arraignment or the bail hearing. At the arraignment, you will enter your plea to the criminal charges. Then the judge will hold the bail hearing. This is when the judge will decide whether to impose bail and, if so, how much. The outcome can depend on:
- the severity of the offense,
- your prior criminal record,
- whether you are a flight risk,
- your financial means, and
- whether you are a threat to public safety or to others involved in the case.
Once the bail bond amount is set, you would be released from jail while your case proceeds if you can post it. If you do not have the funds readily available and your friends, family members, or loved ones cannot help, getting a bail bond from a bondsman is an option.
If the arraignment hearing cannot be held promptly, you will get the bail hearing first.
If you cannot post bail, you will be held in confinement in county jail while your case moves forward. If you do not plead guilty, this can take numerous months or over a year.
What not to do during this process
There are several things that you should not do during the booking process. They include:
- disrupting the process, such as by taking or making a phone call,
- saying anything about the incident that led to the arrest,
- fighting the police officers,
- trying to escape,
- being rude or discourteous, or
- trying to defend against the criminal charges.
The criminal defense lawyers at our law firm have found that doing these things can make the process take longer. Worse, they can provide law enforcement with incriminating evidence that will be used against you.
The booking process is a formality that must be performed. It is not the place to make a case that you are innocent. No one involved has the authority to release you, but if you say something incriminating they will let the prosecutor know.
Legal Citations:
[1] Rhode Island v. Innis, 100 S.Ct. 1682 (1980) and Pennsylvania v. Muniz, 110 S.Ct. 2638 (1990).
[2] People v. Elizalde, 61 Cal.4th 523 (2015).
[3] Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders, 132 S.Ct. 1510 (2012).
