The "danger to the community" and pre-trial detention in Colombia: Why insist on the validity of an unconstitutional norm?

Abstract

The work focuses on the «danger to the community» as an enabling requirement for the preventive deprivation of liberty in Colombia and the protection that this legal figure has received by the Colombian Constitutional Court in its jurisprudence. In this order, the approach to pre-trial detention is based on doctrinal, jurisprudential and legal perspectives, defining the applicable standards in this area at the national and international levels. Likewise, objections to the position of the Colombian Constitutional Court are developed, making use not only of international human rights standards, but also of principles developed by the Court itself through its jurisprudence. Finally, a reflection is made on the role of the Court in controlling the punitive power of the State and the need for such control to be exercised in harmony with the State’s international human rights obligations.