Every definition has version. All process instances running based on definition with old version. You can migrate all runnig instances to new version of definition by org.activiti.engine.impl.cmd.SetProcessDefinitionVersionCmd
.
http://forums.activiti.org/content/migrating-process-instances-newer-versions
But be careful This command will NOT perform any migration magic and simply set the process definition version in the database, assuming that the user knows, what he or she is doing.