For example, in England and Wales, the power comes from Section 24A(2) of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984,[3] called "any person arrest".
In both countries, this results from a different legal norm, "aid to others in immediate danger", which is concerned with prevention, not prosecution, of crimes.
[10] Section 271 of the Criminal Law Consolidation Act 1935 (SA) grants arrest powers to a person in South Australia.
There are further provisions in section 301 of the Criminal Code Act 1924 (Tas) that appear to allow a sliding scale of force in executing an arrest.
Section 462A allows any person the right to use force "not disproportionate to the objective as he believes on reasonable grounds to be necessary to prevent the commission, continuance or completion of an indictable offence or to effect or assist in effecting the lawful arrest of a person committing or suspected of committing any offence".
It was only in 2004 that the Western Australian parliament repealed the provisions of the former section 47 of the Police Act 1892 which allowed any person to arrest without a warrant "any reputed common prostitute, thief, loose, idle or disorderly person, who, within view of such person apprehending, shall offend against this Act, and shall forthwith deliver him to any constable or police officer of the place where he shall have been apprehended, to be taken and conveyed before a Justice, to be dealt with according to law ..." A private citizen would have found it rather difficult to interpret the terms "loose" or "idle" with any degree of legal certainty.
In Austria, citizen's arrests (Anhalterecht Privater) can be made under § 80 Abs 2 StPO (code of penal procedures).
[13] The person making the arrest is allowed to hold the arrestee solely for the purpose of turning him over to a proper legal authority such as the police.
In Brazil, a Federal law[14] allows any person to arrest a suspect criminal found in flagrante delicto or fleeing from the crime scene.
Canada's blanket arrest authorities for crimes or violations of federal statutes are found in the Criminal Code.
Article 29 of the Georgian Penal Code provides that "A person shall not be considered to have acted unlawfully if he/she seizes the offender to bring him/her before public authorities without exceeding the measures required for this purpose.
"[26] Citizen's arrests (in German: Jedermann-Anhalte- und -Festnahmerecht) can be made under § 127 I 1 StPO (code of penal procedures) if the arrestee is caught in flagrante delicto and either the identity of the person cannot be otherwise established immediately or they are suspected to try to flee.
[27] The person making the arrest is allowed to hold the arrestee solely for the purpose of turning them over to a proper legal authority such as the police.
Section 75 of the Criminal Procedure Law (Enforcement Powers – Arrest) of 1996 allows anyone to detain a person who is witnessed carrying out certain suspected crimes.
Any private citizen can, according to article 383 of the Italian Code of Criminal Procedure, arrest another person, provided they are caught "in flagranza di reato" (In flagrante delicto) and the felony they are caught committing includes mandatory arrest from the police and is "perseguibile d'ufficio", meaning that the judicial authority, once received the "notitia criminis" (a crime report), has the duty to commence prosecution, without a party necessarily filing a complaint.
[43] In Japan, Section 213 of the Code of Criminal Procedure allows anyone from civilians to firefighters witnessing any crime in progress to make an arrest.
A person who fails to do so may be found guilty of illegal deprivation of liberty, a crime similar to kidnapping that can result in a prison sentence for the perpetrator.
In 2006, the celebrity bounty hunter Duane 'Dog' Chapman was charged with unlawful deprivation of liberty for arresting an American fugitive in Mexico and attempting to take him across the border to California without consulting police.
[63] The Code of Criminal Procedure allows private citizens to arrest persons caught in flagrante delicto in the commission of a crime.
Any citizens within the Quezon City area can arrest a person even without a warrant in the instances mentioned and provided by law.
[72] Security guards and others working with preventing crime but are not police officers, have this law as justification to arrest thieves and other they encounter.
An arrest without a warrant is explicitly forbidden by the Article 8 in the Constitution of the Republic of China, "except in case of flagrante delicto as provided by law", as shown below: The Code of Criminal Procedure[74] Article 88: Arrest without a Warrant However, the first additional circumstance, i.e. "pursued with cries" has been considered ambiguous in recent years, leading to many ongoing discussions and controversies of whether this would cause an infringement of the personal freedom.
This ceased to have effect as a result of a general repeal of such arrest powers by the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005.
[88] An officer or agent of certain companies may seize and detain any person who has committed an offence against the provisions of the Companies Clauses Consolidation Act 1845 whose name and residence shall be but unknown to such officer or agent, and take them before a justice of the peace, who "shall proceed with all convenient dispatch to the hearing and determining of the complaint against such offender".
[95] Most states have codified the common law rule that a warrantless arrest may be made by a private person for a felony, misdemeanor, or "breach of peace".
A private person may arrest another: "Public offense" is read similarly as breach of peace in this case and includes felonies, misdemeanors, and infractions.
For example, consider a suspect that has been seen on surveillance video vandalizing a building to the extent that the arrestor believes it rises to a felony due to the damage.
[107] However, Virginia courts have upheld warrantless arrests by non-law enforcement personnel for breach of the peace misdemeanors.
[114] While the powers to arrest are similar, police are entitled to mistake of fact in most cases, while civilians can be held to a stricter liability depending on the individual state.
[115] However, ordinary citizens cannot claim "qualified immunity" to attempt to defend against a civil complaint for false arrest.