A fugitive is a suspect who disappears from a state or country to avoid arrest by the law enforcers of a certain area of jurisdiction. As a result, an arrest warrant is issued by the judge of a certain state or a country authorizing the law enforcers to search and arrest the person. By definition, a fugitive warrant is an arrest warrant that is issued by a judge of a certain jurisdiction to apprehend a suspect who has avoided prosecution and moved to another jurisdiction. Due to the variations in constitutional interpretations of clauses, an extradition procedure is required to guide the law enforcers of both states and nations on the right procedure to follow in apprehending the fugitive to face justice (Jefferson, 2007).However, most of the governors and county sheriffs would frequently differ on the implementation of the fugitive warrant. The United States Code 3182 required that every nation or state was obligated to implement a fugitive warrant issued by another state or nation.
The United States constitution, Article IV, Section 2, Clause 2, states that, “A person charged in any state with treason, felony, or other crime who shall free from justice, and be found in another state shall on demand of the executive authority of the state which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the state having jurisdiction of the crime." Additionally, the federal government has enacted and implemented the Uniform Criminal Extradition Act (UCEA) that accommodates fugitive warrants provisions such as producing a formal arrest warrant duly stating the fugitive’s criminal acts and signed by the demanding state and the lawful allowance to detain the fugitive temporarily in the fleeing state. Additionally, the Act provides that a fugitive warrant shall be implemented even if the accused committed a crime in a foreign state, and the crime had an effect on the demanding state (McDonough & Gansler, 2009).
Moreover, the Act has allowed for the execution of a fugitive warrant for petty offences and misdemeanors that were previously ignored in the original federal criminal Act. Another development in the fugitive warrant Act is the laws that guide all nations that have joined a certain Union. For instance, all nations that are members of the European Union (EU) are guided by its treaty to execute upon reasonable evidence, to arrest and extradite a fugitive of a demanding state (McDonough & Gansler, 2009). Certain treaties prohibit member signatories from extraditing a fugitive to a country that practices death sentence. For instance, The United Nations Convention on Human Rights (UNCHR) deters all member countries from submitting a fugitive whom they feel will be sentenced to death or subjected to torture.
In the recent past, the world has been challenged by the escalating acts of terrorism in the world. The heinous act is a universal offence whose jurisdiction is similar to many nations. Therefore, fugitive warrants have been implemented on the guidance of dual criminality provisions in the law (Lubet, 2010). For instance, a suspect may commit a crime in more than one state or country and seek asylum in another nation. Further, the fugitive warrants procedures and provision have been revised beyond the criminal offences to accommodate even businesses and political offences.
Conclusively, a fugitive warrant is only valid if the parties of the respective nations or states are mutually guided by their respective constitutions on the modalities of executing the warrant.
References
McDonough, J. P., & Gansler, D. F. (2009). Maryland extradition manual. Annapolis, Md: State of Maryland, Office of the Governor.
Lubet, S. (2010). Fugitive justice: Runaways, rescuers, and slavery on trial. Cambridge, Mass: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Jefferson, M. (2007). Criminal law. Harlow: Pearson Longman.
