Definition of Home Arrest

In the right criminal law in most countries, house arrest is contemplated, a legal figure that normally applies to people tried in a case, but who have not yet been convicted judicially. As its name suggests, house arrest consists of an individual being criminally punished for staying at her home. Therefore, it is an exclusive penalty of the Liberty. In the event that said penalty is breached, the arrested person would be committing a crime.

In what kinds of situations does house arrest occur?

What rule In general, if a person is being prosecuted the law It contemplates preventive detention until the final trial is completed. However, in some cases the law contemplates the possibility of substituting preventive detention for house arrest. This circumstance occurs for humanitarian reasons, that is, when someone is over 65 years of age, for health reasons or when women are pregnant. Usually this sanction criminal applies for crimes considered minor.

The judicial decision to confine an individual to her home has two versions, one strict and the other more flexible.

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In the first, the arrested person is under strict police surveillance, cannot leave his home under any circumstances and his communications are restricted. In the second, the arrested person remains at her home, but has certain privileges (receiving visitors, attending work, accompanying her children to the school or maintain telephone contact with the outside world).

In either of the two modalities, this penalty implies the incorporation of a system of location permanent. To make this possible, in recent years surveillance systems have been incorporated through radio frequency electronic devices or GPS systems that allow the control of the arrested person.

The flip side of house arrest

In totalitarian regimes, house arrest occurs with some frequency. This circumstance is due to the fact that in these countries the Justice it is not independent and is under the control of political power.

In this sense, the adoption of this measure is not due to humanitarian causes, but is aimed at limiting the freedom of expression of the inmates, who normally suffer house arrest for claiming fundamental rights that are not respected in their countries.

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