“bench warrant”和“arrest warrant”两者都可以指逮捕令，但签发逮捕令的适用情况及流程并不相同。

bench warrant在美国和英国所指并不一样，在美国指法官逮捕令，一般是由法官直接自主作出的；在英国指法院逮捕令。

(1)〈美〉法官逮捕令。由法官直接向执法官员签发的要求其逮捕藐视法庭者、已对其提起公诉者、不服从传票〔subpoena〕者或在庭审时未到庭者等人的令状。 (2)〈英〉法院逮捕令 由法院签发的逮捕犯罪人的令状，区别于治安法官〔justice of the peace或stipendiary magistrate〕签发的逮捕令。

A "bench warrant" usually means someone didn't have their backside on the bench when they should have. That's the bench in front of the judge, not the park bench where pigeons can be fed.

arrest warrant. Speaking more technically, a bench warrant is issued by a judge when a defendant violates the rules of the court. Most often, the defendant has simply failed to show up. Once a bench warrant is issued, however, the police can treat it like any other arrest warrant—and use it to bring the defendant back in front of the judge.

arrest warrant逮捕令则是由执法官员发起并由法院签发的。

具体而言，arrest warrant指法院签发的要求有权的执法官员将某人逮捕并将其带至治安法官或地方法官面前的书面令状。对于可签发逮捕证的理由、有权签发的人员、逮捕证的格式及应记录的内容等，法律一般都有明确的规定。

By contrast, a police officer initiates the arrest warrant process, by filing a statement with the judge that explains why the officer believes that the person named has committed a crime (in legalese, the officer is showing "probable cause" to arrest the person). If convinced, the judge signs the warrant, and the police can make the arrest.

以下为相关双语示例：

If your employer does not appear at the second hearing, you may ask the court to issue a bench warrant at that time, which means that your employer may be arrested for not appearing.

如果你的雇主在第二次听证的时候仍然没有出现，那你可以请求法院发出逮捕令，这意味着你的雇主就可能会因没出庭而被捕。

No criminal offence is committed merely by the fact of failing to attend when on bail, and no arrest warrant will be sworn out unless there is evidence of a criminal offence on which to base the application for the warrant.

单是保释期间不报到不构成任何刑事罪行；除非能证明有刑事罪行作为申请逮捕令的依据， 否则是不能办宣誓手续领取逮捕令的。