Legislative acts as a form of social control – British emergency detention bill and the preventive detention act, 1966-1991

Part One

This article is the first of a two part series that will deal with the use of the British Emergency Detention Bill and its impact on the development of the Preventive Detention Act, 1966 in Guyana. The second part will focus on individuals who were affected by this act and the effects it had on the opposition forces in Guyana. The characterization of the Preventive Detention Act used by Ghana, India and Guyana in the 20th century is not difficult to ascertain, because each country’s version of the act established one fact that is, social control. More so, on paper it was considered as a unique structure for detention, not for criminals but for opposition forces against the government of the day. Each Act had its foundation from the British Emergency Bill which was used by the Crown to detain persons deemed ‘terrorists’, but it was not used