Kentucky Arrest Codes: Felony and Misdemeanor Penalties

Every Kentucky arrest code carries two labels: a statute number from the Kentucky Revised Statutes and a class letter that sets the punishment range. The statute names the offense, and the class names the stakes: the court, the sentence range and the bond. A class A misdemeanor and a class D felony can describe the same conduct, and the difference shows up in the years attached, so the letter matters as much as the number. Both labels appear on the same booking line, usually with a charge description between them.

This page decodes both labels from a booking sheet. It opens with the steps to look up any charge, then walks the felony and misdemeanor classes, the offenses rosters repeat, the court steps after an arrest, and the bond types a judge can set. The tables pair each class with its range, and the charges filed most often have their own line, so one look covers the code on the sheet. Repeat-offense rules, the DUI ladder and the expungement bar for each class sit in the sections that follow.

How to Search Kentucky Arrest Codes

A charge line decodes in minutes once you know where the two labels live. The steps below run from the roster to the full statute text; the kentucky criminal records page follows the charge into the court file and the state check.

Open the Kentucky Legislature KRS Search →

How to Read a Charge Line

Take a line that reads “514.030; Theft by Unlawful Taking; A(M)” with a bond of $500. The statute is theft by unlawful taking, the class is Class A misdemeanor, and the bond sits at the low end for misdemeanors. Change the letter to “D(F)” and the same conduct becomes a felony, the court becomes Circuit Court, and the bond rises accordingly. The booking photo (the mugshot) beside the line proves custody, nothing more.

Felony and Misdemeanor Charges in Kentucky

Every charge on a Kentucky booking sheet carries two labels: a statute number from the Kentucky Revised Statutes and a class letter that sets the punishment range. The statute names the offense. The class names the stakes: which court hears the case, and the sentence range a judge must work inside.

Read both labels and a confusing intake list turns into a clear picture. This page breaks down the classes, the arrest charges filed most often, what happens after an arrest, and how bond works in Kentucky.

The Classes at a Glance

The table below separates the two labels before the classes break them down in detail.

Why Jails Print Charges Differently

Sheriff’s offices and jails abbreviate the pair in their own styles, yet the ingredients stay constant. Some rosters print the full offense name, some print the citation, and some print both: the arrest report beside the roster entry uses the same statute. When an entry shows only a number, the statute text settles what the person is actually accused of, and the penalty chapters settle the range.

Felony Classes Under KRS 532.060

Felonies are the offenses the state treats as most serious, and the prison time starts at a year or more. Kentucky sorts them into four classes plus capital crimes, and KRS 532.060 fixes the range for each.

Which Court Handles Your Charge

Circuit Court takes every felony from arraignment forward, and District Court takes the misdemeanors. The class letter on the charge decides which courthouse the case lands in, which jurisdiction holds the record, and the judge’s sentencing range at the same time.

Class D Felonies and Expungement

Class D felonies are the tier expungement law treats most generously. Many Class D convictions qualify once the sentence and supervision end, so a five-year-old roster entry can be an expunged record later, off every later background check. The label on the entry stays Class D either way on the public record, and the cleanup path runs through the courts, not through the detention center.

How Theft Amounts Change the Charge Class

The dollar thresholds inside theft and fraud offenses move when the legislature amends Chapter 514, so the line between two classes can shift between sessions. Check the current statute text before you stake anything on a dollar threshold.

Misdemeanor Classes Under KRS 532.070

Misdemeanors carry county incarceration measured in months, and the fine ranges stay modest. Two classes cover the whole tier, and KRS 532.070 fixes both.

What the Maximum Jail Time Means

The maximum is not what most people get. Plenty of Class A cases end with probation, and plenty of Class B cases end with a fine and costs. Court costs and fees stack on top of the fine in nearly every conviction, and unpaid balances turn into collection problems later.

Violations: the Tier Below Misdemeanors

Below misdemeanors sits the violation tier: offenses punishable by fine alone, with no jail attached. Traffic infractions, many ordinance matters and some regulatory offenses live here. A violation still lands in a record (it shows on a driving history or a municipal docket), yet it never shows on a criminal-history check as a crime, and it carries none of the collateral weight a misdemeanor conviction does. Officers handle most of these cases with a citation or a summons instead of a jail intake.

City Ordinance Charges

Cities and counties write their own minor offenses (noise, animal control, parking, property maintenance), and those land in the violation tier rather than the criminal code. A booking sheet occasionally carries an ordinance line beside state charges, and it reads differently on purpose: the citation names the ordinance number, the fine is fixed, and no jail time attaches anywhere in the tier. Ordinance findings stay local, showing on municipal dockets rather than on state criminal history.

The Arrest Charges Filed Most Often in Kentucky

Some charges show up on Kentucky jail rosters again and again. A booking line carries six fields, and two of them do all the work:

• Full name and date of birth, exactly as entered at intake.
• Intake records include the booking date, booking number and fingerprints.
• The statute number, straight from the KRS.
• The class letter, from KRS 532.060 or KRS 532.070.
• Bond amount and bond type.
• Any hold from another agency.

Assault fourth degree (KRS 508.030)

Assault fourth degree covers injury, or the threat of injury, without consent. It is a Class A misdemeanor, and it is the workhorse of domestic-related intakes across the state.

Theft and Shoplifting Charges

Theft by unlawful taking under $500 is the shoplifting tier, a Class A misdemeanor, and the volume leader in urban counties. The same offense climbs to a felony once the dollar amount crosses the threshold the statute sets. That single fact settles why two nearly identical intake lines can sit in different classes.

First-offense DUI (KRS 189A.010)

A first DUI sits at Class B by class, and its pieces run on two tracks. The jail range is 2 to 30 days, the fine runs $200 to $500 plus costs, and the license suspension runs 6 months, dropping to 4 once 90 violation-free days pass in the interlock program. The court handles the jail and the fine, and the license side runs through the Transportation Cabinet.

Drug Possession Charges (KRS 218A.1422)

Possession of marijuana in small amounts sits at Class B under KRS 218A.1422. Drug paraphernalia beside it is Class A. The two lines often appear together on one intake, and the classes differ by one letter.

Public intoxication and resisting arrest (KRS 222.202, KRS 520.090)

Public intoxication under KRS 222.202 is a custody-and-release charge that usually clears with a night in a cell and a small fine. Resisting arrest under KRS 520.090 is Class A on its own, and it is a frequent second line when another charge went sideways. City police departments, county sheriffs and state law enforcement officers all write these intakes into the same booking log, and one arrest often produces two or three charge lines. The prosecutor later sorts the pile (some counts merge and some drop), which is why the court file rarely matches the intake list line for line.

Kentucky Offense Classes at a Glance

Kentucky Offense Classes and Penalties

The six cards below compress the penalty ladder into one view, using the statutes and fine ranges spelled out on this page.

What Happens After an Arrest in Kentucky

The arraignment is the first court appearance, and it follows a set script in Kentucky District Court. The hearing usually happens within a day or two of being booked, once the docket reaches the case.

The Grand Jury Step for Felony Charges

Felonies follow a road misdemeanors never take. The case starts in District Court, where a preliminary hearing tests whether probable cause supports the hold. The prosecutor can skip that hearing and take the case straight to a grand jury, and nine of twelve grand jurors must vote to indict. The indictment sends the case to Circuit Court for trial.

Why the Case Number Takes Weeks

A felony arrest appears on the roster within hours, yet the Circuit Court case number may take weeks to surface as the grand jury meets. Neither the delay nor the gap means the case stalled. It means the felony road runs longer, and the clerk’s file opens only when the indicting paper lands.

How Bond Works in Kentucky

Bond answers one question (what secures the person’s return), and Kentucky law offers four answers. The class drives the size, and the record drives the conditions.

What Moves a Case Faster

A Class A misdemeanor rarely draws a heavy bond. Felony classes rise with the prison range, and priors push every figure up. Two people charged under the same statute can face different bonds for that reason alone: the base charge is identical, and the priors are not. The lightest option (release on the person’s own recognizance, sometimes filed as a personal bond) costs nothing up front.

How to Pay Bond at the County Window

Bond money is collected at the county level, and payment rules differ from county to county: and between a regional jail and a small holding facility; the kentucky county arrest records page lists the local jail and court for each county:

• Some jails take cash bond payments at a lobby window around the clock.
• Some restrict the cash types they take.
• Some route payment through the clerk during business hours.
• The roster shows the amount; one call to the jail shows the door.
• Keep the receipt tied to the booking number until the release shows on the roster.

Bond Conditions Besides the Money

Judges add no-contact orders, travel limits and check-ins on top of the amount, and any violation of those conditions returns the person to custody on top of the original case. A hold from another agency blocks release even after payment, so read the hold line on the roster before driving to the window with cash. The roster shows the amount, and the clerk’s file shows the fine print.

Repeat Offenses and the PFO Ladder

Two mechanisms raise a charge beyond its base version, and both show up on booking sheets as label changes.

How Repeat Offenses Increase Penalties

DUI offenses climb with priors inside the lookback window, and theft climbs with the dollar amount. The class on the entry reflects the charge as filed, so an upgraded case posts at its higher class from the start.

Persistent Felony Offender (KRS 532.080)

KRS 532.080 reclassifies a defendant’s current felony upward when prior adult felonies sit on the record. A Class D can sentence as a Class C, and so on up the ladder. The base charge stays the same on the roster; the sentence range behind it does not.

How Diversion Works

Not every arrest runs to trial. Pretrial diversion suspends the prosecution as the defendant completes conditions (classes, restitution, community service), and a completed diversion ends with the charge dismissed. Conditional discharge does the same work after a plea, holding the sentence in abeyance as conditions run. The prosecutor and the court decide eligibility, and the programs target first offenses and most misdemeanors.

Probation and Parole in Kentucky

The class sets the range, and the sentence sets the shape. Judges suspend large shares of sentences to probation, where a supervised officer enforces conditions in place of a cell. State inmates serve inside the Department of Corrections system, with parole eligibility that varies by class and by the parole board’s read of the file.

Searchers meet this layer as a moving custody status. An inmate who makes parole leaves a state facility, and the roster entry flips to released even as the supervision file stays open. That means a released line on a roster is a custody change, not a case ending.

Contact Information

Official government contact details for this page are listed below.

Frequently Asked Questions

Five plain answers cover the offense-class questions booking sheets raise most: the misdemeanor tiers, the felony line, Class D, repeat-offense boosts and the first court date.