What kind of things do people keep to themselves? This is a question that a lot of people tend to ask, but there’s never really a sufficient answer, is there? People have their secrets, and some of those secrets will be taken to the grave.
That being said, some secrets are a little easier to unearth than others. For example, doing a New York warrant search can reveal a lot more about a person than you may have known otherwise. But what exactly will this kind of search show you that you might never have found out if you hadn’t done this kind of search?
Well, the short answer is a lot of things, depending on what this search pulls up. We’ve written today’s article in order to give you a much better idea of the kind of information that this kind of search can help you find in almost no time at all.
If you’ve never done a warrant search before, you’re in the right place. On top of telling you what exactly can be found on a warrant, we’re going to be giving you the information you need to find warrants yourself.
What is a Warrant in the Criminal Justice System?
There is a little bit of confusion about what a warrant is among the general population. There are a lot of reasons why so much misinformation is spread around, but there are two main culprits that should get the bulk of the blame.
The first is Holywood. Now, this isn’t to say that entertainment is a bad thing. In fact, art is a very important part of our culture. It’s not even entirely Holywood’s fault. This is because, at the end of the day, Holywood is trying to tell stories rather than educate.
Many parts of the criminal justice system just wouldn’t make for good T.V. or film. This is probably for the best, you wouldn’t want real court cases to be too dramatic. Dramaticism can be fun, but when it comes to something as important as justice you shouldn’t be too dramatic in your execution.
That’s probably the biggest culprit, but the second biggest culprit is armchair legal experts. If you’re not familiar with that phrase, an armchair legal expert is someone who acts like they have a lot of knowledge or experience in law while possessing no real knowledge or experience.
You could be an armchair expert in really any field, but it’s most common to hear that turn of phrase when it comes to armchair historians, armchair psychologists, and armchair generals. This type of person is common and spreads a lot of misinformation because they only act like they know what they’re talking about.
You can find armchair legal experts all over the internet, making stuff up to convince other strangers on the internet of how the law works. Whether you’re on YouTube, Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, or even just some weird niche forum-based website, you can find this kind of person.
These two sources of misinformation can make it pretty hard to find all the information that you might want on this topic while being sure that you’re getting the right information. So, what is a warrant really? It’s actually pretty simple and we can explain it pretty quickly.
A warrant is a legal order to search or seize someone or their belongings. In case that was unclear, as legalese often is, an arrest is a seizure of a person, rather than of their things. These orders can only be given under specific circumstances
Warrants are actually a thing specifically because of the protections granted to us by the United States constitution. The fourth amendment specifically is what deals with this kind of thing, protecting people from unjust searches and seizures.
What Needs to Appear on a Warrant.
Every warrant needs certain information in order to be sure that the warrant won’t just be tossed out of court. These can vary from state to state, but in the state of New York, every warrant typically has to have:
- The name of the suspect.
- A reasonable description of the subject.
- This can replace the name if the name is unavailable.
- The crime that is believed to have been committed by the suspect.
- The county in which the crime was committed.
- The date the crime was committed.
- The date the warrant was issued.
- The name of the authorizing party.
- This can be a judge or a magistrate.
- The name of the office where the authorizing party works.
- The signature of the authorizing party.
Even one of these things missing can be enough to get a whole case tossed out of the courtroom, which makes it very important that the judge or magistrate that is authorizing the warrant pays close attention to what’s on the warrant that they’re sending out.
Many judges and magistrates even have someone in their office that specifically proofreads the warrants before sending them out. By doing this, judges can be sure that they aren’t going to have the whole case thrown out because of a clerical error.
It might not make sense why the system would be set up this way, but it’s actually to try and reduce the number of false imprisonments. Sometimes, the wrong person is arrested for crimes, and sometimes there’s just straight-up corruption happening. By being strict about warrant rules, these things can be alleviated at least a little.
What Will Warrant Searches Reveal?
Warrant searches can reveal a lot of information, and now that you know what kind of information goes onto a warrant, you’re probably wondering if you’d have access to all of that information. Really, it depends on where the warrant came from.
That being said, when you look at a warrant there are typically a few things that you can expect to find:
- The name of the suspect.
- The physical description of the suspect.
- Crimes believed to have been committed by the suspect.
- County where the warrant was issued.
- The date that the warrant was issued.
This might seem like a lot less information than what is actually put into the warrant, and that’s because it objectively is. Law enforcement agencies, especially sheriffs, really only want to release warrant information that can expedite the capture of the suspect.
Really, warrant information is mostly released for this fact alone. It also helps suspects that would prefer to just turn themselves in to be able to do that without having to worry about getting arrested during a normal traffic stop. That’s a win-win for both law enforcement and for the suspect.
Finding Warrants
You have a number of options available to you when it comes to finding warrants. Some might lead to dead ends depending on which county you need to look in, but you do have a few options here no matter where you need to look.
The first option is simply to check with law enforcement directly. You can do this by calling them on your phone or checking their website to see if they provide this information that way. Not every county does, but it could be worth a shot.
If the county you want to look in does make this information easily available to the public, that can be the end of that. You won’t have to worry too much about looking anywhere else. You just get the information, look at what the person in question is wanted for, and move on.
If the county you’re looking in doesn’t have this information, you do have another method available to you that could potentially get this information. The method we’re about to cover also allows you to easily cast a much larger net in general, which is a fantastic thing if you need information from a large area.
This method is pretty simple, just get yourself a good warrant search website or a good personal background check service. Either will work just fine for this task, one just provides a whole lot more information than the other one, which can be helpful for some people.
All you do is enter the first name, last name, and current state of the person in question, and viola. Almost like magic, you can easily see all of their active warrants from all across the country. If the databases provided to you by law enforcement agencies leave you wanting more, this method is for you.
Get All of the Information That You Need
Finding information is an important thing to human beings. Knowing where to look and what you’re looking for can make this task that much easier. Fortunately, all you need is an internet connection and a basic understanding of how to use said internet connection.
Whether you’re new to the warrant search game or you’ve been at this for years, finding the information that you want without having to stress too hard about it can provide you with a feeling of satisfaction that you might have a hard time finding elsewhere.