Failure to appear
In law, failure to appear consists of a defendant or respondent refusing to appear at (or within) the stated time before a tribunal as directed in a summons. Where the conduct alleged in the summons or complaint is an infraction or summary offence, failure to appear is a process crime for which a bench-warrant can be issued if the defendant promised to appear. If the conduct alleged is a tort or other cause for civil action, failure to appear generally results in a default judgment by the court in favor of the plaintiff/petitioner.
In the United States
Failure to appear in U.S. federal law is an offense punishable by a prison term, depending on the seriousness of the offense the person is being sentenced for:[1][2]
| Offense of conviction | Maximum prison term for failure to appear for sentencing | Offense level |
|---|---|---|
| An offense punishable by death, life imprisonment, or imprisonment for a term of 15 years or more | 10 years | 14 |
| An offense punishable by imprisonment for a term of five years or more | 5 years | 11 |
| Any other felony | 2 years | 8 |
| A misdemeanor | 1 year | 5 |
All states except for Maryland, Mississippi and Wyoming have similar state laws. The territories of the United States lack the crime. In Minnesota, the punishment for failure to appear can even exceed the punishment foreseen by the law for the underlying offense.[3] In most jurisdictions a crime based on another's legal importance, different from qualification, as for example threatening with bodily violence, never exceeds the punishment of the basic crime, which in the example was bodily violence.
Civil law
In civil law, there is regularly no crime of failure to appear at the criminal court. However, an arrest warrant may be issued and resisting it may fulfill obstruction of a police officer in the exercise of his duties.
Criticism
The criminal status of so-called bail jumping has been critized as unreasonable due to daily-life and not unusual impedications to attending trial like childcare and transport problems. Punishability for missing the trial because of hospitalization has been seen as injustice. Less supportably than for other crimes, it keeps criminals shut in the punitive system and, more particularly, its institutions. In case of determining bail, it exacerbates the placement on bail significantly.[4]
References
- ^
- ^ USSG §2J1.6
- ^ Pretrial Release Violations & Ball Forfeiture (2018), National Conference of State Legislatures
- ^ Corey, Ethan; Lo, Puck, The "Failure to Appear" Fallacy, January 9, 2019, The Appeal
External links
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