Pretrial detention is when people are locked up before being charged with a crime. Some countries use it to prevent terrorism, but others abuse it. In the US, there are constitutional protections, but there have been proposals to hold terrorists indefinitely without trial. Some countries, like Costa Rica and Malaysia, allow for extended pretrial detention without charge or trial, which human rights groups seek to abolish.
Some governments will lock up or jail some people before they have committed or been charged with a crime. This is known as pretrial detention. While many countries around the world engage in this act to prevent terrorists and other threats to society from causing harm, other countries, especially those ruled by dictators, use pre-trial detention with little or no concern for human rights.
Preventive detention should not be confused with another similar term, detention of suspects. Detention of a suspect usually occurs following a criminal charge or just prior to charging a suspect with a crime. Pretrial detention allows law enforcement to detain anyone who has good reason to believe they may be committing a crime.
Many democracies around the world use pretrial detention to stop possible terrorist attacks. For example, following numerous terrorist attacks, the British government allowed law enforcement agencies to detain possible terrorists for up to 14 days. In 2006, that limit was extended to 28 days and in 2008 it was extended again, this time to 42 days. After the specified period of time has elapsed, the prisoners must be charged with a crime or released.
In the United States, some amendments to the Constitution guarantee the rights of an incarcerated person. Under these amendments, a person cannot be detained without legal representation, nor be detained without being charged with a crime. In 2009, however, US President Barack Obama began discussing the possibility of creating a pre-trial detention system that could hold terrorists indefinitely without trial. This proposed system was intended to keep dangerous prisoners out of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp after it had closed, but this idea has sparked a number of human rights advocates.
Many of these advocates also believe that some other countries use pretrial detention to deprive individuals of their human rights. For example, in Costa Rica a person can be detained for up to one year without criminal charge or trial. The effective length of an individual’s detention, however, can be up to three years.
Malaysia’s Internal Security Act 1960 is another pre-trial detention law that many human rights groups are seeking to abolish. Under this law, officials can arrest and detain any individual they deem a threat or possible criminal. Two years should be the maximum time these prisoners can be held, but many times this preventive sentence is extended indefinitely.
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