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How Long Criminal Cases Take to Resolve in New York City
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How Long Do Criminal Cases Take to Resolve in New York City?
If you’ve been arrested for a crime in New York City, you’re probably wondering–how long is this gonna take? From arrest, to arraignment, to trial and sentencing, criminal cases can drag on for months or even years. The length depends on a bunch of factors, like the type of crime, the courts’ caseload, and delays caused by motions and appeals. I’ll walk you through the basic process so you know what to expect.
Arrest
After you’re arrested, the police take you to the nearest precinct for booking. This means they take your fingerprints, photograph you, record your vital information, and confiscate your property. You might have to wait in a holding cell for several hours until you’re transported to court for arraignment. The cops are allowed to detain you for up to 24 hours before bringing you before a judge.
Arraignment
Your first court appearance is called an arraignment. This usually happens within 24 hours of arrest. The judge reads the charges against you and asks if you plead guilty or not guilty. If the crime is minor, you may be released on your own recognizance. For more serious crimes, the judge sets bail–meaning you have to pay money to the court in order to be released while your case proceeds. If you can’t afford bail, you’ll wait in jail.
Arraignments are usually pretty quick, like 15 minutes at most. But if the prosecutors aren’t ready or need time to investigate, they can ask the judge to delay. This drags things out longer before you get released or start the trial process.
Grand Jury
After arraignment, felony cases go to a grand jury. They decide whether there’s enough evidence for you to be formally charged (“indicted”) and face trial. Grand juries hear evidence from prosecutors and witnesses, then vote on the indictment. If they decline to indict, the charges are dismissed. This part takes around 6 weeks on average.
Your defense attorney can’t go to the grand jury hearing, but you can testify if you want. Sometimes the prosecutors will offer a plea bargain before indictment to avoid trial. If you plead guilty, there’s no grand jury.
Plea Bargaining
After arraignment or indictment, the prosecution may offer a plea bargain. This means pleading guilty to get a lighter sentence versus risking trial. Like if they offer a misdemeanor with probation instead of a felony with years in prison. Over 90% of criminal cases end with plea bargains ’cause trials are long and uncertain.
If you accept a plea bargain, there’s no trial. You go directly to sentencing, which can happen within a few weeks. But sometimes prosecutors take months to offer a plea deal. They’ll wait to see how strong their case looks first.
Pre-Trial Motions
There’s lots of pre-trial motions that can delay things. Your lawyer can file motions to get evidence dismissed, obtain witness statements, or even get the whole case dismissed for procedural errors. Prosecutors also file motions to compel evidence from you. The judge has to hear arguments and issue rulings on all these motions.
Simple motions take a couple weeks, but complex ones with drawn-out arguments can take months. Even minor evidentiary motions can push the trial date back 6 months or more.
Trial
Less than 5% of criminal cases actually make it to trial, but if yours does, it will take a while. In New York City, the average wait for a felony trial is 398 days from arrest. Misdemeanor trials happen faster, but still take around 90 days on average.
Trials themselves vary in length too. A simple case with only a few witnesses may last a couple days. But long, complex trials with lots of evidence and witnesses can drag out for weeks or months. And if the jury can’t reach a verdict, you have to do the whole trial over again.
Sentencing
If you’re convicted at trial or take a plea bargain, the last step is sentencing. The judge hears arguments from the prosecution and your lawyer before deciding your punishment. Sentencing usually happens right after conviction or plea at the same court hearing. But for serious or complex cases, it may get scheduled weeks out to allow for pre-sentencing investigations.
Once you’re sentenced, your lawyer can file an appeal to try and get the conviction or sentence reduced. But appeals can add months or years to the process. Some cases drag out a whole decade going from trial to appeals and back for re-trial.
Takeaways
So when will your criminal case wrap up? There’s no fixed timeline because every case is different. But here’s some general rules of thumb:
- Minor crimes like misdemeanors usually resolve within 3-6 months
- Major felonies often take 1-2 years to play out
- Appeals can double or triple the timeline
- Over 90% of cases end in plea bargains to avoid long trials
- Delays at any stage–arraignment, motions, trial scheduling–slow everything down
The criminal justice system moves notoriously slowly. With good behavior and a little luck, your case may get resolved on the quicker end. But there’s always a chance of delays arising. Don’t be shocked if your case drags out longer than expected. Just stay patient and work with your lawyer to speed things along as much as possible.
Hope this overview helps you plan for the road ahead! Let me know if you have any other questions on what to expect.
References
Bureau of Justice Assistance: Plea Bargaining Research Summary