Detention Without Trial

Abstract

In the furtherance of the overall theme of this book, this chapter considers a more specific example of the potential for the restriction of personal liberties which have been facilitated through legislation and highlights my view that current attempts at preventing crime are disproportionate to the risks posed and therefore represent in themselves a different kind of danger. Specifically I want to highlight the undermining of the age old principles of ‘innocent until proven guilty’ and habeas corpus by the move to the detention of terrorist suspects without trial for indefinite periods of time. This practice, which appears to have been justified both in the UK and the USA on the basis of an increased need for security in the wake of terrorist atrocities, has given rise to the previously unacceptable notion of detention without trial. To do this, I want to focus in this chapter on a number of specific matters.