preventive detention

[ pri-ven-tiv di-ten-shuhn ]

noun
  1. the holding of someone in jail or in an institution because they are regarded as a danger to the community.

  2. English Law. imprisonment of habitual criminals for periods ranging from 5 to 14 years during which they are given corrective training or placed under psychiatric and medical care.

Origin of preventive detention

1
First recorded in 1905–10

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use preventive detention in a sentence

  • Why not use preventive detention on the Crips and the Bloods?

  • Identification cards of prisoners or persons held in preventive detention are withheld from them.

    Area Handbook for Romania | Eugene K. Keefe, Donald W. Bernier, Lyle E. Brenneman, William Giloane, James M. Moore, and Neda A. Walpole
  • They also see to it that the criminal is held in preventive detention, if necessary, before trial.

    Area Handbook for Romania | Eugene K. Keefe, Donald W. Bernier, Lyle E. Brenneman, William Giloane, James M. Moore, and Neda A. Walpole