# Arrest Warrant **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 1, 2016, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrest-warrant/758871 "2016-07-01T16:46:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jrubas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/278dde/32.png) [@Jrubas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jrubas)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2016, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrest-warrant/758871/1 "2016-07-01T16:46:44Z")
A friend of mine (cliche, but I’m being serious here) has a warrant out for his arrest for failure to appear in Virginia. He says that there was a website that had his info (name, case number, that it had been moved to a fugitive file). He found it by typing his name into Google. Now it’s gone and he thinks the warrant is magically non existent. I told him it doesn’t work that way but I honestly don’t know much about the criminal justice system. Warrants stick around forever, right? Until you’re arrested? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2016, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrest-warrant/758871/2 "2016-07-01T16:59:48Z")
Arrest warrants don’t expire. I wonder if the website was legitimate. It doesn’t sound like your friend is the sharpest knife in the drawer. If he is worried about it, he can call the state of Virginia and find out. Or just go back and get stopped for running a stop sign or something. That would work too. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2016, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrest-warrant/758871/3 "2016-07-01T17:02:09Z")
It appears that in a few jurisdictions, warrants for minor offenses MAY be allowed to expire. However, one should assume that the warrant remains active forever. > [@](#): > > What About Really Old Warrants? Can they Still Affect Me? > > Absolutely, it can. This happens all the time.You can be arrested at any time. Even for an incident that is decades old. > > If you are considered a fugitive, there is no statute of limitations on the charges. The fact that you are still at large and technically a fugitive means it is still considered an active crime. > **[Outstanding Warrant - Experienced Criminal Lawyers](https://experiencedcriminallawyers.com/criminal-charges/outstanding-warrant/)** > > An outstanding warrant for your arrest can be issued for a number of reasons. Criminal bench warrants are routinely issued for failure to appear in court to face criminal charges. A warrant for your arrest may also be signed by a judge if you are a... > **[Do bench warrants expire?](https://www.quora.com/Do-bench-warrants-expire)** > > Answer (1 of 4): Some courts put expiration dates on their lower-end (misdemeanor or infraction) arrest warrants for failure to appear or pay fines on traffic tickets or other similarly serious matters. If the warrant is not served by its expiry... > **[What happens if a person with a warrant over 10 years ago got caught?](https://ask-a-lawyer.lawyers.com/criminal/what-happens-if-a-person-with-a-warrant-over-10-years-ago-got-caught-1566839.html)** > > Warrants dont have time limits or statute of limitations. This is because the person has either not appeared in Court or has skipped out on Court. ---
**Author:** ![Personal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Personal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Personal)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2016, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrest-warrant/758871/4 "2016-07-01T17:06:22Z")
If he knows the county where the warrant issued, he could call their warrants division and ask if the warrant exists, which where I live is part of the county sheriff’s department. ---
**Author:** ![LC\_Strawhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@LC\_Strawhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LC_Strawhouse)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2016, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrest-warrant/758871/5 "2016-07-01T17:06:54Z")
Maybe he once [forgot to return a Tom Green VHS tape](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/weird-news/man-arrested-overdue-freddy-got-fingered-video-rental-2002-n545366). ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2016, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrest-warrant/758871/6 "2016-07-01T19:17:32Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > It appears that in a few jurisdictions, warrants for minor offenses MAY be allowed to expire. However, one should assume that the warrant remains active forever. Quite true. It depends on the offense and the jurisdiction. These private databases and pay sites are of dubious accuracy. I know when we ask our dispatchers if someone has warrants it takes a while to check NCIC, state traffic warrants and state criminal warrants. And that is going straight to the source. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2016, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrest-warrant/758871/7 "2016-07-01T20:47:14Z")
What if the offense for which the arrest warrant was issued has gone beyond the statute of limitations? Is the warrant still valid? ---
**Author:** ![Chihuahua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dec6dc/32.png) [@Chihuahua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chihuahua)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2016, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrest-warrant/758871/8 "2016-07-01T21:17:15Z")
Unless your friend has some reason to believe the cops may actually be looking for him, my first guess is that it is a scam. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2016, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrest-warrant/758871/9 "2016-07-01T22:47:06Z")
Oh well the search engines do respond to “thats libeling or slandering me” type requests, so its unclear that the disappearing data disappeared because it was false, or disappeared because it was true or disappeared because it was stolen. There are official sources. But of course what if they forget to load 57% into database, the omitted warranted aren’t actually invalidated, its just not there in that particular database for someone to find. But see here… a city puts violent criminals up and many failure to appear warrants… Don’t worry , I did just guess a letter to look at. [http://www.norfolk.gov/index.aspx?NID=370](http://www.norfolk.gov/index.aspx?NID=370) If he really wants to be sure, then he should request his virginia record. or maybe cheaper and faster to request his record from the city … Although I guess that might be a bit difficult as they may want to see him in Virginia… or need his current address etc. Maybe engage a lawyer ? Or just buy a one way ticket to Virginia and say hello ? ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrest-warrant/758871/10 "2016-07-02T00:37:43Z")
> [@aldiboronti](#): > > What if the offense for which the arrest warrant was issued has gone beyond the statute of limitations? Is the warrant still valid? There is no ‘hide and seek’ rule, where you can run from the cops and escape the crime if you hide out long enough - the time on a statute of limitations doesn’t run if there’s a legal process that you’re avoiding. If the warrant is for failure to appear like in the OP, then there isn’t any statute of limitations, because you’re still committing the criminal act of not showing up to court as ordered; you don’t stop committing failure to appear until you actually appear (or contact the court and sort it out if it’s something minor). ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrest-warrant/758871/11 "2016-07-02T00:50:18Z")
> [@Pantastic](#): > > There is no ‘hide and seek’ rule, where you can run from the cops and escape the crime if you hide out long enough - the time on a statute of limitations doesn’t run if there’s a legal process that you’re avoiding. If the warrant is for failure to appear like in the OP, then there isn’t any statute of limitations, because you’re still committing the criminal act of not showing up to court as ordered; you don’t stop committing failure to appear until you actually appear (or contact the court and sort it out if it’s something minor). If it is fresh warrant, meaning it is for the original charge that was never served, it is not for failure to appear. The principle here is that the statute of limitations pertains to how many years you have to build a case and have probable cause for a warrant. The clock stops ticking when the warrant is issued. Many jurisdictions recognize that it becomes increasingly hard to get a conviction the longer it is so warrants for minor offenses may disappear by statute. But not everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![skdo23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@skdo23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdo23)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrest-warrant/758871/12 "2016-07-02T01:09:38Z")
This seems to be a trend among the so called “background check” websites that seem to be all over the web these days - if someone does a search for what it somehow recognizes as a person’s name then these sites will return results implying that said person has legal issues in a location relevant to that person’s life in order to get them to purchase a subscription out of urgency. I’m not trying to imply that your friend is automatically in the clear but, at a minimum, a smell test is in order. Also, I’ve experienced the same lags that Loach refers to when conducting background checks when working in the legal profession, and bear in mind that this was utilizing privately owned services available to private practice lawyers, not the original sources that he has access to (he works as a LEO in some capacity, I believe). ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrest-warrant/758871/13 "2016-07-02T02:07:36Z")
As far as I know, an arrest warrant lasts forever unless it’s specifically cancelled. I know of a guy who was arrested on a sixteen year old warrant (and he was arrested in Arizona on a New York warrant). I probably signed a couple hundred warrants when I was working; I’ve been retired for years and they’re still in effect. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2016, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/arrest-warrant/758871/14 "2016-07-02T02:17:33Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Or just go back and get stopped for running a stop sign or something. That would work too. > > Regards, > Shodan Or according to the latest SCOTUS ruling being discussed, just walk across a parking lot.