| Chapter 2: | Investigative Detention and International Human Rights Law |
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Chapter 2
Investigative Detention
and International
Human Rights Law
In order to attain this book's goal of comparing the investigative detention regimes of the United States, the United Kingdom, and France, this chapter outlines the criminal procedures of those countries in detail, exploring the powers and restrictions of each country's domestic criminal justice apparatus. At the outset, however, there is another dimension that must be considered in the analysis of all three legal systems―a regime of law on the international plane that can influence, or in some instances control, domestic criminal law. That regime of law is commonly referred to as international human rights law.
Commentators note that international human rights law is, in some respects, a new body of law that has been rapidly evolving since the end of World War II.25 It has been defined as “the law that deals with the protection of individuals and groups against violations of internationally