can someone really perform a citizens arrest? if so, under what law?

Answer 1

A citizen's arrest could be made on the following instances under the Rules of Court:
1. When a crime is about to be committed or being committed;
2. When he is aware that a person is a prisoner who escaped; and
3. When he has personal knowledge that a person has committed a crime.

Answer 2

You can use citizens arrest in CA but you must be willing to follow through with it, that means going to court and testifying. If the court determine that you held someone against thier will and they did not actually commit the crime, then guess what you are liable under civil court and can (and probablly will) get sued.
Steve C is wrong, a security guard can detain you and use reasonable force to do so (even against your will) as long as you have commited a crime that he can prove and he has notified law enforcement to come follow up.

Answer 3

As someone else stated, it depends on the state or country you are in. Texas allows for citizen's arrest under certain circumstances, and in those cases, they are full arrests with the authority to use force if necessary.

The Code of Criminal Procedure specifies in Chapter 14 for normal arrest authority, and in Chapter 18 for preventing the consequences of a theft.

Answer 4

Some states have what is called citizen's arrest, and believe it or not some others do not. NC has no citizen's arrest, but they do provide what is called lawful detainment and it can only be done in the event of imminent threat of life to you or those around you.

Answer 5

the only time you can perform a citizens arrest is when you personally witness a felony being commited and there is a risk that the person will run and is a danger to someone else in the process.

Answer 6

citizen's arrests are mythological.
no one person can hold another against their will for whatever reason. Because no one citizen can be certified in the law, the citizen arrest thing became invalidaded long ago. This includes security guards who will often "detain" or arrest you under this premise... it is still illegal for them to hold you.

Answer 7

In TEXAS, you can do it in a felony or breach of the peace case.

One thing to remember is that you need to know the law and understand that even tho you are following the law saying you can arrest, you can still be accountable for anythng that happens during your arrest.

It is best to allow the police to handle it.

Answer 8

it could be done, and normally if it happens, it is actually you detaining someone on your property

But it is a state law and can very from state to state as if and how it is allowed.

Normally it will have to be a felony, you will have had to witness it personally. You are still liable to be sued for false arrest and false imprisonment if they are not convicted of the crime.

Answer 9

Yes. But you have to be careful.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen%27s_arrest