Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: arrest warrents

There is no such database available to the public. If there were, criminals would frequently look themselves up and would often know ahead of time that they were about to be arrested. They would then try to evade the police, making their capture more difficult and more expensive.

Such a database would offer no public benefit that I can see which would outweigh these considerable costs. Information about actual convictions is publicly available because that information relates to findings (or admissions) of guilt. The mere existence of an arrest warrant reflects nothing more than an accusation, and such accusations often turn out to be incorrect. More often, they may be correct but do not result in a prosecution. And some that do lead to prosecutions don't lead to convictions.

People tend to equate an arrest or a warrant with guilt, so anyone listed in the type of database you describe would appear guilty in the eyes of most people who found out about the listing. Our society does not want people's reputations to be so easily tarnished due to the substantial harm that would often follow, so the information is kept confidential.