Pretrial and Civil Detention of “Dangerous” Individuals in Common Law Jurisdictions

This chapter examines issues surrounding the pretrial and civil detention of “dangerous” individuals in common law jurisdictions. It first provides an overview of justifications for pretrial and civil detention schemes governing “dangerous” individuals as well as “pre-crime,” “pre-trial,” “post-crime,” and “post-sentence” schemes including risk assessment. In particular, it considers the pre-charge detention of suspected terrorists, civil detention of those with severe mental health problems and/or intellectual disabilities, remand and bail, unfitness to plead, and indefinite detention of recidivist offenders and of those found not guilty by reason of mental impairment. The chapter concludes with an analysis of criticisms of pretrial and civil detention schemes based on the grounds of human rights, due process, and the principle of proportionality.