preventive detention
- the holding of someone in jail or in an institution because he or she is regarded as a danger to the community.
- 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.
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Origin of preventive detention
First recorded in 1905–10
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018