Bench warrant

A bench warrant is a variant of an arrest warrant, which authorizes the immediate on-sight arrest of the individual subject to the bench warrant. Typically, judges issue bench warrants for persons deemed to be in contempt of court – possibly as a result of that person's failure to appear at the appointed time and date for a mandated court appearance. Bench warrants are issued in either criminal or civil court proceedings.

Commonly (but not always), the person who is subject to a bench warrant has intentionally avoided a court appearance to escape the perceived consequences of being found guilty of a crime. If a person was on bail awaiting criminal trial when the non-appearance took place, the court usually forfeits bail and may set a higher bail amount to be paid when the subject is re-arrested, but normally the suspect is held in custody without bail. If a person is found to have a bench warrant against him or her when stopped by a law enforcement officer, the person is immediately taken into custody by authorities, rejailed and a hearing is held at which time new bail amount and conditions are set and a new court appearance date is scheduled. Often, if a person is arrested on a bench warrant, that person is held without bail until he or she can appear in court for whatever incident it was that he or she failed to appear to address originally. Such a person is referred to as a "flight risk", meaning that there is a high likelihood that he or she will flee and not appear for the assigned court date (for a second time).

Bench warrants are traditionally issued by sitting judges or magistrates.



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