administrative detention

This page is about the doublespeak term administrative detention

Meaning

imprisonment without charge or a trial

For example

  • Hundreds of asylum seekers and refugees have been held in administrative detention for years.

  • We're holding troublemakers who criticized our government in administrative detention.

Note:
For advanced students: Many countries use "administrative detention" to imprison people for long periods without trial. It's used to imprison asylum seekers and refugees, terrorism suspects, and people who are seen as a threat to the government. It's often criticised for being an abuse of civil, political and human rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides protection against the abuse of power by governments, and the use of "administrative detention" has often been seen as an example of this sort of abuse.

Quick Quiz

"Administrative detention" is a euphemism for imprisonment

a. without legal process

b. without detention

c. without force
a) without legal process b) without detention c) without force

Contributor: Matt Errey