1. The act or fact of holding a person in custody; confinement or compulsory delay. — detain, vb.
investigative detention. The holding of a suspect without formal arrest during the investigation of the suspect’s participation in a crime. • Detention of this kind is constitutional only if probable cause exists.
pretrial detention.
1. The holding of a defendant before trial on criminal charges either because the established bail could not be posted or because release was denied.
2. In a juvenile-delinquency case, the court’s authority to hold in custody, from the initial hearing until the probable-cause hearing, any juvenile charged with an act that, if committed by an adult, would be a crime. • If the court finds that releasing the juvenile would create a serious risk that before the return date the juvenile might commit a criminal act, it may order the juvenile detained pending a probable-cause hearing. Juveniles do not have a constitutional right to bail. The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of such statutes in Schall v. Martin, 467 U.S. 253, 104 S.Ct. 2403 (1984).
— Also termed temporary detention.
preventive detention. Confinement imposed usu. on a criminal defendant who has threatened to escape, poses a risk of harm, or has otherwise violated the law while awaiting trial, or on a mentally ill person who may cause harm.
2. Custody of property; esp., an employee’s custody of the employer’s property without being considered as having legal possession of it.
