Liberty - Protecting civil liberties, promoting human rights

Pre-charge detention refers to the period of time that an individual can be held and questioned by police before being charged with an offence.

Until January 2011, for individuals suspected of terrorism, the maximum period of pre-charge detention was 28 days – more than seven times the limit for someone suspected of murder.

When the Terrorism Act 2000 was originally introduced Parliament decided that pre-charge detention in terrorism cases needed to be set at 7 days. In 2003 the Criminal Justice Act extended this period to 14 days. In 2006, after a failed attempt to increase the period to 90 days, the Terrorism Act increased the period to 28 days – subject to annual renew.

Again in 2008 attempts were made by the Government to increase the period to 42 days – a proposal which was overwhelmingly defeated in the House of Lords and later withdrawn by the Government.

The 28 day period was renewed annually by Parliament after it was passed in 2006. In July 2010 the 28 day period was renewed again but this time for a six month period, and in January 2011 the legislation was allowed to expire, meaning the pre-charge detention limit reverted to 14 days.

28 days was the longest period of pre-charge detention of any comparable democracy. In the USA the limit is two days, in Ireland it is seven days, in Canada one day and in Italy four days.

Extended detention without charge flies in the face of our basic democratic principles of justice, fairness and liberty. Under the previous law people could be held for almost one month on the basis of police suspicion rather than hard evidence and without being formally accusing of any criminal offence.

We believe 28 days detention without charge was unjustifiable, unnecessary, wrong in principle and counter-productive. Reverting to 14 days, still far longer than many comparable democracies, could be an important first step in reversing one of the worst excesses on the ill-judged ‘War on Terror’.