A criminal background search can involve a lot of varying criminal information-from crimes to court proceedings to the existence of warrants. Court orders of these kinds vary according to the crime, jurisdiction, and court environment involved in a particular civil or criminal case. Below, we address the definition and nature of “outstanding warrants” in relation to other kinds of court orders and how they are handled in the criminal justice and background records systems.
The first aspect of this topic that should be discussed in order to prepare one for the examination of court orders that are outstanding is the basic definition and premise of a warrant. A warrant is a court order for the arrest of an individual in relation to either a crime or a disrespect of court proceedings. There are warrants existent at all levels of jurisdictional level and can be ordered by any civil or criminal court judge or magistrate. Not only are there general warrants for arrest; but there are also court orders for searching and seizing of perpetrator property, as well as orders for arrest according to blatant disrespect for court proceedings-such as not showing up for a court date in which you are involved. Depending on the location of the crime and case-as well as the nature of the crime involved-determines which jurisdiction can authorize a warrant for arrest.
This said, there are two main ways that court orders are classified: as prior and active or “outstanding warrants”. The common protocol for the establishment of an arrest warrant is when a police officer on the scene of a crime makes a police report, and finds that there is enough evidence for an arrest, but he/she does not have the authorization to do so. They, in turn, present this evidence to a judge-of the particular jurisdiction to which it applies-who, in turn, reviews it and decides if there is probable cause for an arrest. If so, they create an arrest warrant. At this point, the warrant is deemed active or unserved.
Now the time between when a warrant is ordered and when it is served is characterized by two possibilities: if the subject of the “outstanding warrant” is unaware that there is a court order out on them, and/or if the subject does not want to be arrested and is, therefore, avoiding being served. Most often, it has nothing to do with the police officer’s intention to serve the document or the ignorance of the potential offender, but rather the fact that the potential offender does just not want to be caught or processed through the law.
With the basic structure of how court orders work in the criminal justice system, as well as how those that are unserved, factor in discussed; how would a person endeavoring a complete and accurate search make sure not to miss whether or not the subject of their search has a warrant that is unserved? The first step to locating this information would be in the same manner in which a person would locate any criminal information-by contacting and/or visiting the jurisdictional locations of information on the person. Secondly, most every court in every jurisdiction has what is called a “wanted persons list”. This list details all persons who have court orders that have yet to be served on them for arrest. In cases in which the crime for which they are wanted for is serious, they will most probably be a part of a “most wanted” list. These lists typically offer as much identifying information as possible, such as pictures, names, descriptions of appearance, etc.