拘留

• 読み: こうりゅう
• ローマ字: kouryuu
• 漢字の分解: 拘 (kou) — restrain; 留 (ryuu) — detain, keep
• 発音: /ko.ː.ɾɯ.ː/

意味

Detention; custody; confinement. The legally authorised holding of a person, especially before trial or as a minor criminal penalty.

In Japanese criminal law, 拘留 (kouryuu) is a specific minor penal sanction involving confinement for 1 to 30 days, lighter than imprisonment (懲役, chōeki). It is distinct from 勾留 (kōryū) — a homophone — which refers to pre-trial detention of a suspect. Writers and speakers must take care to use the correct kanji. Both terms are used frequently in legal journalism.

例文

1. 軽微な違反行為に対して拘留処分が下ることがある。
2. 被疑者は警察署内の留置場に拘留されたまま、取り調べに応じていた。
3. 国際的な人権基準では、拘留の期間と条件は厳格に規定されるべきだとされている。

使い方ガイド

場面: law, criminal justice, human rights, journalism

トーン: neutral

起源と歴史

Compound of 拘 (kou, restrain, hold) and 留 (ryuu, stay, detain). Both characters convey physical restriction and retention. The term entered formal legal language during the Meiji legal codification based on European criminal law models.

文化的背景

時代: Meiji–Modern

世代: Adults

社会的背景: Educated