Pre-trial detention
Pre-trial detention, also known as jail, preventive detention, provisional detention, or remand, is the process of detaining a person until their trial after they have been arrested and charged with an offence. A person who is on remand is held in a jail, prison or detention centre or held under house arrest. Varying terminology is used, especially from country to country; the term "remand" is generally used in common law jurisdictions and "preventive detention" elsewhere. In the United States, "remand" is rare except in official documents, and "jail" is the most commonly used term. Detention before charge is commonly referred to as custody and continued detention after conviction is referred to as imprisonment.
Because imprisonment without trial is contrary to the presumption of innocence, pre-trial detention in liberal democracies is usually subject to safeguards and restrictions. Typically, a suspect will be remanded only if it is likely that they could commit a serious crime, interfere with the investigation, or fail to come to the trial. In the majority of court cases, the suspect will not be in detention while awaiting trial, often with restrictions such as bail.
Research on pre-trial detention in the United States has found that pre-trial detention increases the likelihood of convictions, primarily because individuals who would otherwise be acquitted or have their charges dropped enter guilty pleas. A 2021 review of existing research found that "the current pretrial system imposes substantial short- and long-term economic harms on detained defendants in terms of lost earnings and government assistance, while providing little in the way of decreased criminal activity for the public interest... the costs of cash bail and pretrial detention are disproportionately borne by Black and Hispanic individuals, giving rise to large and unfair racial differences in cash bail and detention that cannot be explained by underlying differences in pretrial misconduct risk."
Detention before charge or trial
The pre-charge detention period is the period of time during which an individual can be held and questioned by police, prior to being charged with an offence. Not all countries have such a concept, and in those that do, the period for which a person may be detained without charge varies by jurisdiction. The prohibition of prolonged detention without charge, habeas corpus, was first introduced in England about a century after the 1215 Magna Carta; the use of habeas corpus ad subjiciendum in 1305 was cited by William Blackstone.Albania
Albania has one of the highest rates of pre-trial detention in Europe. In November 2025, the United Nations Committee Against Torture reported that approximately 57 per cent of detainees in Albania were held in pre-trial detention, describing its use as systematic rather than exceptional and noting its contribution to severe prison overcrowding. The Committee, citing findings of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, also raised concerns about detention conditions, including inadequate living standards and limited access to medical care, particularly at the Tirana Prison Hospital. Concerns regarding prolonged pre-trial detention have also been highlighted in high-profile cases, including that of Tirana mayor Erion Veliaj, whose extended detention without trial was cited by legal analysts and media as illustrative of broader due-process and rule-of-law challenges in Albania.Czech Republic
Under Article 8 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Basic Freedoms of the Czech Republic, which has the same legal standing as the Czech Constitution, a suspect must be immediately familiarised with the grounds of detention, must be interviewed and within 48 hours either released or charged and handed over to a court. The court then has a further 24 hours either to order a custody, or to release the person detained.Detailed rules of detention are included in the Criminal Procedural Code. The police may arrest and detain a suspect after obtaining prosecutor's consent. In an urgent case the police may detain a suspect without the consent. In both cases, however, the police detention may take place only when grounds for pre-trial detention exist. The statutory limits of 48 + 24 hours must be complied with and reaching the time limit should aways trigger immediate release, unless a court has ordered pre-trial custody.
Anybody may detain a person, who was caught while perpetrating a crime or immediately after it, when capturing of the perpetrator is necessary to either ascertain the perpetrator's identity or to prevent the perpetrator from escaping or to secure evidence. The perpetrator must immediately be handed over to the police, or when that is not possible, detention of the perpetrator must be immediately reported to the police.
People's Republic of China
According to a reply of the Supreme People's Court, detention refers to the detention of a suspect or defendant in a specific place in accordance with the law, restricting or temporarily depriving them. Compulsory measures for personal freedom include arrest and detention.Criminal detention is when police departments and prosecutor's offices deal with criminal cases, in which current criminals or major suspects are temporarily deprived of their personal freedom and detained in a statutory emergency situation.
Requirements
- Chinese police departments can first detain current criminals or major suspects in one of the following situations:
- In addition to the authority of the police to decide and enforce detention in accordance with the law, the prosecutor's office also has the right to decide to detain criminal suspects and defendants in the following two situations in cases directly accepted by the prosecutor's office:.
Review of the necessity of detention
Subsequent rules describe how prosecutors’ offices should review whether pretrial detention remains justified after an arrest. In 2023, the chief prosecutor and police ministry jointly issued the Provisions on Efforts to Review and Assess the Necessity of Detention, which in American and British English would translate to Pretrial Detention Review Rules. The rules require prosecutors to review whether a defendant should be released or detained pending trial and, where detention is unnecessary, recommend release or a motion for amendment of the conditions of release. When detention reviews are triggered by motions or jail recommendations, the rules set statutory deadlines and require the police and courts to report implementation of prosecutor recommendations within a 10-day deadline, with a corrective action notice where they do not.
During custody
- Criminal detention
- Detective custody
- Extended custody