CRIMINAL PROCEDURE ACT 1986 - SECT 237 Duration of arrest warrants
CRIMINAL PROCEDURE ACT 1986 - SECT 237
Duration of arrest warrants237 Duration of arrest warrants
(1) A warrant to arrest an accused person need not be returnable at any particular time. If it is not, the warrant continues in force until it expires.
(1A) A warrant to arrest an accused person in respect of an offence specified in the Table below expires at the end of the period specified in the Table in relation to the offence.
Offence Period Indictable offences (punishable by imprisonment for life or 25 years or more) 50 years Indictable offences (punishable by imprisonment for less than 25 years and not less than 5 years) 30 years Indictable offences not punishable by imprisonment for 5 years or more (where the accused person is not a child) 15 years Summary offences (where the accused person is not a child) 10 years Indictable offences not punishable by imprisonment for 5 years or more (where the accused person is a child) 10 years Summary offences (where the accused person is a child) 5 years
(1B) A warrant issued for the arrest of a convicted person to bring that person before a court for sentencing expires at the end of 30 years after it is issued.
(1C) Nothing in subsection (1A) or (1B) prevents a new warrant for arrest from being issued in respect of the same offence or offences as a previous arrest warrant.
(2) A warrant to arrest a witness must be returnable at a stated date, time and place.
(3) The warrant to arrest a witness may be returned and cancelled, and a further warrant may be obtained, if the witness is not arrested before the warrant must be returned.