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Massachusetts courts can issue two types of arrest warrants: default warrants and straight warrants.

Default warrants are issued by a judge after the defendant has failed to appear for court.

Straight warrants, on the other hand, are issued by the court at the request of police or prosecutors. The request must be accompanied with evidence showing probable cause that the criminal suspect did, in fact, break the law. These warrants can be used for any and all crimes that occur in Massachusetts.

While both types of warrants provide for the arrest of a criminal suspect, default warrants could have the additional downside of causing a judge to set bail as a condition of the defendant’s pretrial release–both in the current case against the defendant and all subsequent criminal matters.