US Bench Warrant

A bench warrant is akin to an arrest warrant in that it is issued by a judge or court (in the United States this means that the bench warrant could be issued by a State or Federal Court). Most of the time, such warrants are issued when an individual does not comply with an order of the court. Upon the issuance of a bench warrant, police or law enforcement officials are authorized to detain the individual who is the subject of the warrant and transport that individual directly to the court in order to address the charges stated in the bench warrant. In this situation, the individual is truly placed before the judge's “bench” in order to respond to the previously issued warrant. Judges very often use bench warrants in an effort to forestall instances of contempt of court or the deliberate disregard of a validly issued court order. Judges in some jurisdictions are more apt to issue bench warrants compared to other judges as the issuance of such warrants is left largely to the discretion of the court.

Although bench warrants could be issued for those who fail to appear for jury duty. As a practical matter, this rarely happens. More often, judges will issue bench warrants against those who have failed to appear in court or have disregarded a subpoena.

A judge must have some form of personal knowledge of the underlying instance of contempt in order to issue the bench warrant. If the judge does not have such personal knowledge, then he or she must wait until someone presents an affidavit attesting to personal knowledge of the contempt.

In some ways, a bench warrant is different when compared to a criminal arrest warrant. A warrant for an individual’s arrest is generally issued when a duly authorized law enforcement organization has probable cause to suspect that one has been involved in criminal activities. That being said, as a bench warrant is issued directly by a judge its inception is slightly different from that of a normal arrest warrant, but it has the same effect. If a bench warrant has been issued then it will likely end up in the same database as an arrest warrant and as soon as the subject is apprehended by a law enforcement officer, he or she will be detained and brought before the court in order to deal with the matter.

In an ever increasingly globalized world, the various warrant databases are being linked together so that jurisdictional boundaries are becoming less cumbersome obstacles for law enforcement officials. Now a bench warrant issued in the United States could still have an impact upon a subject even if he or she is residing overseas. For this reason, the best way of dealing with a warrant issue is to retain competent legal counsel to provide insight into one’s legal rights. An American attorney can provide advice regarding the way in which a US criminal matter will be processed and can be beneficial in helping the subject of a warrant make rational decisions based upon his or her legal situation.