Bail

“This handbook is a detailed guide for bail commissioners who serve in the Circuit Court and Superior Court of New Hampshire. Its purpose is to document the practices, policies, and procedures that bail commissioners must follow when performing their statutory responsibilities.” Once bail reform efforts have settled down, this handbook will be revised by the Judicial Branch. In the meantime, bear in mind that there have been changes in the law since the Handbook's publication in 2020.

All of Chapter 16 discusses various aspects of bail in New Hampshire, including sections on the nature of bail, procedure to obtain release upon bail, amount of bail and discharge and default of bail. See also sections 30.19, Bail Pending Appeal to Superior Court and 32.17, Evidence of Testimony at Bail Hearing.

The Handbook has just a small section on bail in its Criminal Law chapter but from that section, we glean the following: "There is no set amount of bail for any given offense. In practice, the bail commissioner often sets the amount of bail requested by the police." The chapter also discusses bail conditions, types of bail, and preventive detention.

Chapter 1 describes the bail system, the different types of bail, and pretrial release and detention.

Chapter 2 discusses pretrial detention and release.