Ark. Code Ann. § 16-81-109 (2026)

1. 1. When any sheriff or other law enforcement officer makes an arrest, he or she is authorized to take and to approve bail in the manner provided by law wherever he or she makes the arrest.
   2. If the offense charged is a misdemeanor, the person arrested may immediately give bail for appearing on a day to be named in the bail bond before the judge or magistrate who issued the warrant or before the court having jurisdiction to try the offense. The sheriff or other officer making the arrest may be authorized by the judge or magistrate issuing the warrant to take the bail by an endorsement made on the warrant to that effect.
2. 1. If the defendant gives bail for his or her appearance before the judge or magistrate for an examination of the charge, as provided in subsection (a) of this section, the sheriff or officer taking the bail shall fix the day of the defendant's appearance.
   2. A deviation from the provisions of subdivision (b)(1) of this section shall not, however, render the bail bond invalid.

History. Crim. Code, §§ 25-27; Acts 1871, No. 49, § 1 [25]; C. & M. Dig., §§ 2896-2898; Init. Meas. 1936, No. 3, § 19, Acts 1937, p. 1384; Pope's Dig., §§ 3712-3714, 3865; A.S.A. 1947, §§ 43-411, 43-418 — 43-420; Acts 2005, No. 1994, § 268.

Amendments. The 2005 amendment, in (a)(1), inserted “sheriff or other law enforcement” and “or she”; inserted “judge or” in (a)(2) and (b)(1); substituted “judge or magistrate” for “justice” in (a)(2); and, in (b)(1), inserted “or her” and “sheriff or” and deleted “which shall not exceed five (5) days from the day of arrest, unless the arrest is made in a different county from that in which the offense was committed, in which case there may be one (1) day added for every twenty (20) miles of distance from the place of arrest to the county in which the offense is charged to have been committed” from the end.

Cross References. Bail generally, § 16-84-101 et seq.

Imprisonment for debt, Ark. Const., Art. 2, § 16.