Dictionary:

arrest

  (ə-rĕst')

1. To stop; check: a brake that automatically arrests motion; arrested the growth of the tumor.
2. To seize and hold under the authority of law.
3. To capture and hold briefly (the attention, for example); engage.

To undergo cardiac arrest: The patient arrested en route to the hospital.

1. 1. The act of detaining in legal custody: the arrest of a criminal suspect.
   2. The state of being so detained: a criminal under arrest.
2. A device for stopping motion, especially of a moving part.
3. The act of stopping or the condition of being stopped.

[Middle English aresten, from Old French arester, from Vulgar Latin *arrestāre : Latin ad-, ad- + Latin restāre, to stand still (re-, re- + stāre, to stand).]

verb

1. To prevent the occurrence or continuation of a movement, action, or operation: belay, cease, check, discontinue, halt, stall, stay, stop, surcease. Idioms: bring to a standstill, call a halt to, put a stop to. See continue/stop/pause.
2. To come to a cessation: belay, cease, check, discontinue, halt, leave off, quit, stall, stop, surcease. Idioms: come to ahaltstandstillstop. See continue/stop/pause.
3. To take into custody as a prisoner: apprehend, seize. Informal nab, pick up. Slang bust, collar, pinch, run in. See law.
4. To compel, as the attention, interest, or imagination, of: catch up, enthrall, fascinate, grip, hold, mesmerize, rivet, spellbind, transfix. Slang grab. See excite/bore/interest.

noun

A seizing and holding by law: apprehension, seizure. Slang bust, collar, pickup, pinch. See law.

Definition: slowing or stopping
Antonyms: activation, encouragement, freeing, letting go, release

v

Definition: fascinate
Antonyms: be ignored, be passed over

v

Definition: stop or slow
Antonyms: activate, encourage, let go, release

For more information on arrest, visit Britannica.com.

An arrest occurs when a public officer acting under legal authority detains an individual to answer for a criminal offense. Historically, arrests were also made in connection with civil cases: a court might order a citizen apprehended to ensure that he or she fulfilled a contractual obligation. In modern times, however, a deprivation of physical liberty is usually justified only as an instrument of criminal law enforcement.

Statutes typically authorize federal and state law enforcement officers to arrest suspects and, concomitantly, set limits on that authority. In some jurisdictions, for example, the police are only empowered to make arrests for serious offenses, not for nonviolent misdemeanors or traffic offenses punishable by a fine. More often, legislatures authorize arrests in any circumstance that the Constitution allows officers to take suspects into custody.

The Fourth Amendment to the Constitution guarantees "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures" and bars the issuance of warrants "but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." The meaning of that language is not self-evident. Accordingly, the Supreme Court has fashioned a body of more precise doctrines to implement the Fourth Amendment's fundamental principles. Many of these doctrines bear on police authority to make an arrest.

Although the term "arrest" does not appear in the Fourth Amendment explicitly, the Supreme Court has declined to hold, on that basis alone, that the Fourth Amendment has no application to arrests. The amendment addresses both "searches" and "seizures." The Court has interpreted "seizures" to refer both to the confiscation of property and to the apprehension of persons. An arrest, by the Court's account, is a "seizure of the person." This much of the Court's work is not controversial. The police must have some authority to make arrests in order to enforce criminal law effectively. Yet an arrest necessarily entails an extraordinary encroachment on individual liberty. It is expected that the Constitution's demand that any arrests the police make must be reasonable restraints on citizens' freedom of movement.

The Fourth Amendment sometimes imposes the same, or similar, restrictions on the authority of the police to search, on the one hand, and their authority to arrest, on the other. For example, the police can conduct a search only if they have probable cause to believe particular evidence will be found. Similarly, the police can make an arrest only if they have probable cause to believe a person has committed or is committing a criminal offense. Yet the rules governing searches do not always apply to arrests. The general rule for searches is that the police cannot routinely rely on their own judgment regarding the existence of probable cause. Whenever there is time, they must explain to a magistrate why they think they will discover evidence in the place they wish to search. The magistrate, in turn, will issue a warrant authorizing the officers to proceed if, in his or her judgment, the facts and circumstances establish probable cause. In the case of an arrest, by contrast, the police can usually proceed on the basis of their own determination of probable cause.

Ideally, it would be better if both searches and arrests were made only after a magistrate concludes that probable cause exists and issues a warrant. Police officers are engaged in detecting crime and apprehending perpetrators. They may believe they have sufficient cause for invading a suspect's privacy or depriving him or her of liberty. But their judgment may be clouded by zeal. Judges are detached from the law enforcement mission, and comparatively neutral. Thus, their judgment may be more reliable. The reason for the distinct treatment of searches and arrests is pragmatic. In the case of a search, the Court has concluded that the value of a judicial determination of probable cause outweighs the costs of requiring police officers to postpone action until they have procured a warrant. A search can typically be delayed without undermining its purpose. The suspect is often unaware that the police intend to conduct a search, and thus, while police take their case to a magistrate, incriminating evidence would not be removed. In the case of an arrest, by contrast, the Court has concluded that delay can jeopardize public safety. The police may need to capture a suspect caught in the act or attempting to flee. If they delay action obtaining a warrant from a magistrate, the suspect may abscond. Accordingly, officers can rely on their own determination of probable cause and make an arrest without benefit of a warrant issued by a judge. This reasoning is not perfectly symmetrical. The usual rule requiring a warrant for a search is subject to exceptions for exigent circumstances. If there is no time to go to a judge before conducting a search, the police typically may proceed on the basis of their own judgment regarding probable cause. There is no mirror-image rule that the police must obtain a warrant to make an arrest when there is time to do so. In the case of an arrest, the Supreme Court has decided that police need a clear rule on which to rely, one subject to no exceptions and requiring additional judgment in the field. That they usually need an arrest warrant is a rule that serves this purpose.

Any significant interference with a person's freedom of movement is a seizure that must be justified in light of the Fourth Amendment. But not every seizure is an arrest implicating the particular Fourth Amendment standard pertaining to arrests: the requirement of probable cause. If the police only stop a person on the street for a brief period, their actions are subject to a different and less rigorous test. The police do not need probable cause to believe that a person has committed or is committing an offense. They need only reasonable suspicion that a crime is in progress. The difference between probable cause and reasonable suspicion is elusive. It is clear, however, that the latter is less demanding. It follows that police may stop a person for a short time on the basis of facts and circumstances that would not justify an arrest.

This distinction has important practical consequences. The Supreme Court has held that police may conduct searches incident to both arrests and "stops." A search incident to an arrest can be extremely thorough. The suspect is about to be transported to a police station for the initiation of a criminal prosecution. The Court has held that the additional intrusion associated with an incidental search for evidence is minimal by comparison. A search incident to an investigative stop, however, must be more limited. By hypothesis, the suspect will be in the officer's presence only temporarily. The point of a search incident to a stop is not to look for evidence that might be incriminating, but rather to safeguard the officer during the encounter. Accordingly, the officer may only "frisk" (pat down) a person's outer clothing to determine whether he or she has a weapon and may reach inside the person's clothing only if the officer feels something that could be a dangerous instrument.

The Supreme Court has held that evidence obtained by means of an invalid stop or arrest usually must be excluded if and when the person is charged and brought to trial. The rationale of the "exclusionary rule" is that police must be discouraged from disregarding Fourth Amendment limits on their authority. If they know that evidence discovered during an invalid stop or arrest will be inadmissible, they will have an incentive to behave properly (and thus to secure evidence that can be used to prove a suspect's guilt). Accordingly, if the police obtain incriminating evidence when they search a person they have detained, it is crucial to determine whether the original seizure of that person was a stop or an arrest. If it was a stop, the evidence will be admissible at trial as long as the police took action on the basis of reasonable suspicion. If it was an arrest, the evidence will be admissible only if the police took action on the basis of probable cause.

Bibliography

LaFave, Wayne R. Search and Seizure: A Treatise on the Fourth Amendment. Rev. ed. St. Paul, Minn.: West, 1996.

—Larry Yackle

"to deprive a person of his liberty by legal authority," 249 N.E. 2d 553, 557; in the technical criminal law sense, seizure of an alleged or suspected offender to answer for crime. See 214 N.E. 2d 114, 119. Arrest or any custodial interrogation, though not technically called "arrest" must be based on probable cause. 99 S. Ct. 2248. To be actionable in the event that such seizure is improper or unlawful, there must be an intent on the part of the arresting officer or agent to bring the suspect into custody. See 266 F. Supp. 718, 724. The seizure or detention must be understood by the arrested person to be an arrest. 94 Ohio App. 313. The elements are: (1) purpose or intention to effect the arrest under real or pretended authority; (2) actual or constructive seizure or detention of the person to be arrested by the person having present power to control him; (3) communication by the arresting officer of intention or purpose then and there to make the arrest; and (4) understanding by the person to be arrested that such is the intention of the arrestor. See 250 F. Supp. 278, 280. See malicious arrest; resisting arrest. See also privilege from arrest.

Sudden cessation or stoppage.

• cardiac a. — sudden and often unexpected stoppage of effective heart action. Either the periodic impulses which trigger the coordinated heart muscle contractions cease or ventricular fibrillation or flutter occurs in which the individual muscle fibers have a rapid irregular twitching.
• epiphyseal a. — premature arrest of the longitudinal growth of bone due to fusion of the epiphysis and diaphysis.
• maturation a. — interruption of the process of development, as of blood cells, before the final stage is reached.
• sinoatrial a. — a disturbance in cardiac conduction in which the sinoatrial node intermittently fails to generate an impulse. There are no P waves or PQRS-T complexes for at least twice the normal R-R interval. If the pauses are long enough, junctional or ventricular escape complexes may occur. Occurs most commonly in brachycephalic dogs, causing only minor clinical signs.

v.t.

Formally to detain one accused of unusualness.

    God made the world in six days and was arrested on the seventh.
                                              The Unauthorized Version

Criminal procedure
Investigating and charging crimes
Criminal investigation
Arrest warrant · Search warrant
Probable cause · Knock-and-announce
Exigent circumstance
Search and seizure · Arrest
Right to silence · Miranda warning (U.S.)
Grand jury
Criminal prosecution
Statute of limitations · Nolle prosequi
Bill of attainder · Ex post facto law
Criminal jurisdiction · Extradition
Habeas corpus · Bail
Inquisitorial system · Adversarial system
Charges and pleas
Arraignment · Indictment
Plea · Peremptory plea
Nolo contendere (U.S.) · Plea bargain
Presentence Investigation
Related areas of law
Criminal defenses
Criminal law · Evidence
Civil procedure
Portals
Law · Criminal justice

The Chicago Police Department arrests a man

An arrest is the action of the police, or person acting under the law, to take a person into custody, usually so that they may be forthcoming to answer before a tribunal for the commission of a crime. In many legal systems, an arrest requires mere verbal information to persons that they are under arrest; the laying of hands or restraints upon the arrested person is usually not required to effect an arrest. Also, there are certain non-criminal arrests that allow for the seizure of representatives not present in the legislative body lacking a quorum, and the forfeiture of property.

For serious crimes, the police typically take suspects to a police station or a jail where they will be incarcerated pending a judicial bail determination or an arraignment. In other instances, the police may issue a notice to appear specifying where a suspect is to appear for his arraignment.

While an arrest will not necessarily lead to a criminal conviction, it may nonetheless have serious ramifications such as a loss of employment due to inability to pay bail, social stigma and (in some cases) the legal obligation to declare arrests when applying for a job, loan or professional licence. These collateral consequences are more severe in the United States than in the UK, where arrests without conviction are not usually considered significant and are not even reported in a standard criminal record check. Nevertheless, arrests should not be made lightly as a wrongfully arrested person may sue the arresting authority for damages.

Legal cautions

The reading of the Miranda warning or similar "caution" to an arrestee advising him or her of rights is not legally required upon arrest. A legal caution is required only when a person has been taken into custody and is interrogated. Legal cautions are mandated in the US, most Commonwealth and other common law jurisdictions, and countries where the right to legal counsel, the right to silence, and the right against self-incrimination have been clearly established.

In the United Kingdom a person must be 'cautioned' when being arrested unless impractical due to the behaviour of the arrestee i.e. violence or drunkenness. The caution required in England and Wales states,

“

You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something that you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.

”

The person must also be told what crime they are being arrested for and why it is necessary to arrest them, and they may be asked if they understand the caution. Some officers, however, do not ask this question so the suspect does not have the option to claim he or she did not understand the caution as a form of defence.

Non-criminal arrests

Breach of a court order can be civil contempt of court, and a warrant may issue for the person's arrest. Some court orders contain authority for a police officer to make an arrest without further order.

If a legislature lacks a quorum, many jurisdictions allow the members present the power to order a call of the house, which orders the arrest of the members who are not present. A member arrested is brought to the body's chamber to achieve a quorum. The member "arrested" does not face prosecution, but may be required to pay a fine to the legislative body.

Ordinarily only human beings can be arrested, but recent and somewhat controversial changes to criminal codes have allowed for the arrest not only of the usual "contraband, evidence, fruits, and instrumentalities" of crime, but also of inanimate objects such as money, automobiles, houses, and other personal property under asset forfeiture.

Origin of "arrest"

The term is Norman in origin and is related to the French word Arrêt, meaning "stop".

See also

• Arrest warrant
• Citizen's arrest
• House arrest
• Arrestable offence (term based in UK law)

External links

• The (United Kingdom) Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) gives authority for the Home Secretary to issue codes of practice, much of which relates to the treatment of suspects on arrest and subsequent detention. The current set of Codes took effect during August 2004.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Arrest

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Common misspelling(s) of arrested

• erested

Dansk (Danish)
v. tr. - anholde, arrestere, pågribe
v. intr. - sidde i fængsel
n. - arrestation, anholdelse

idioms:

• arrest of judgement    udsættelse af dom, tilbageholdelse af dom
• place under arrest    arrestere
• under arrest    under arrest

Nederlands (Dutch)
arresteren, in hechtenis nemen, enteren, tegenhouden, stopzetten, iemands aandacht trekken, aanhouding, arrest(atie), stilstand

Français (French)
v. tr. - arrêter qn, appréhender, retenir, attirer, arrêter (la croissance, le développement), entraver, retarder, (Méd) enrayer (une maladie)
v. intr. - arrêter, empêcher, faire un arrêt cardiaque
n. - arrestation, pénitence, (Mil) arrêts (npl), (Jur) suspension d'exécution

idioms:

• arrest of judgement    (Jur) prononcer une suspension d'exécution de jugement
• place under arrest    placer en état d'arrestation
• under arrest    (être) en état d'arrestation

Deutsch (German)
v. - zum Stillstand bringen, verhaften
n. - Verhaftung

idioms:

• arrest of judgement    (jur.) Aussetzung des Verfahrens
• place under arrest    in Haft nehmen
• under arrest    in Gewahrsam

Ελληνική (Greek)
v. - συλλαμβάνω, πιάνω, αναχαιτίζω, βάζω κάτω από έλεγχο, κοντρολάρω, σταματώ, τραβώ την προσοχή ή το ενδιαφέρον, προσελκύω, (καθομ.) υφίσταμαι καρδιακή προσβολή
n. - σύλληψη, κράτηση, αναχαίτιση, έλεγχος, διακοπή, αναστολή, παύση, ανακοπή, (καρδιακή) προσβολή

idioms:

• arrest of judgement    (νομ.) αναστολή εκτέλεσης δικαστικής απόφασης
• place under arrest    θέτω υπό κράτηση, συλλαμβάνω
• under arrest    (νομ.) υπό κράτηση

Italiano (Italian)
arrestare, interrompere, fermare, impedire, catturare, arresto

idioms:

• arrest of judgement    sospensione del processo
• cardiac arrest    arresto cardiaco
• place under arrest    arrestare
• under arrest    in stato di arresto

Português (Portuguese)
v. - deter, capturar, aprisionar, reprimir
n. - apreensão (f), detenção (f), suspensão (f), parada (f), batente (m) (Téc.), prisão

idioms:

• arrest of judgement    suspensão de julgamento
• cardiac arrest    parada (f) cardíaca (Med.)
• place under arrest    ordenar detenção
• under arrest    sob detenção

Русский (Russian)
арестовывать, задерживать, остановить, арест, остановка

idioms:

• arrest of judgement    приостановка исполнения
• cardiac arrest    остановка сердца
• place under arrest    арестовать
• under arrest    арестован

Español (Spanish)
v. tr. - detener, parar, retener, arrestar, detención, arresto, paro
v. intr. - detenerse, pararse
n. - detención, arresto, paro

idioms:

• arrest of judgement    aplazamiento de la sentencia
• place under arrest    detener, poner bajo arresto
• under arrest    detenido

Svenska (Swedish)
v. - anhålla, hejda, fängsla
n. - anhållande, arrestering, avbrott

中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
逮捕, 阻止, 制止, 拘留, 吸引, 被逮捕, 遏止, 制动器

idioms:

• arrest of judgement    暂不判决, 延期判决
• place under arrest    被捕
• under arrest    被逮捕

中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
v. tr. - 逮捕, 阻止, 制止, 拘留, 吸引
v. intr. - 被逮捕
n. - 逮捕, 阻止, 遏止, 拘留, 制動器

idioms:

• arrest of judgement    暫不判決, 延期判決
• place under arrest    被捕
• under arrest    被逮捕

한국어 (Korean)
v. tr. - 체포하다, 막다, 끌다
v. intr. - 체포되다, 막다, 끌다
n. - 체포, 포박, 정지

idioms:

• under arrest    구금하여

日本語 (Japanese)
v. - 逮捕する, 止める, 引く
n. - 逮捕, 止めること, 阻止

idioms:

• arrest of judgement    判決の阻止
• citizen's arrest    市民逮捕

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(فعل) يوقف, يعتقل, يلقي القبض على (الاسم) توقيف, اعتقال, صد, القا القبض‏

עברית (Hebrew)
v. tr. - ‮עצר, אסר, עיכב, משך (שימת-לב)‬
v. intr. - ‮נעצר, נאסר, עוכב‬
n. - ‮מאסר, מעצר, עיכוב לבדיקה‬

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