Eshelby's and Freund's solutions for the arbitrary motion of a crack have been applied to the propagation and arrest of cracks in stress gradients in infinite and semi-infinite plates. It has been shown that for an embedded crack with one end moving the dynamic stress intensity factor can be greater than for a static crack of the same length and loading. Such a crack thus arrests at a length greater than would be predicted by a static analysis. However, with edge cracks, which are of greater practical importance, the dynamic stress intensity factor is less than the static value, and crack arrest can occur at crack lengths shorter than would be predicted from a static analysis, although, if the fracture toughness for crack arrest is very similar to the toughness for reinitiation of crack propagation, the crack can propagate further after the arrival of reflected waves at the crack tip, and the point where the crack finally stops will approach that given from a static analysis. Thus provided the arrest toughness can be properly identified, a static analysis gives a conservative answer for the arrest of an edge crack, but not for the arrest of an embedded crack.