Habeas corpus applies to illegal detention. After an arrest, you may be detained even without charges for a "reasonable amount of time". In most cases, this wil

Habeas corpus applies to illegal detention. After an arrest, you may be detained even without charges for a "reasonable amount of time". In most cases, this will be 48-72 hours depending on the state and your circumstances. After that "reasonable" period has passed without charges, your detention would then be illegal, and habeas corpus would be the perfect remedy. So why isn't it used? The answer is simple and twofold: 1. These people don't know to do that, let alone how. 2. They don't have the money to pay somebody who knows to do that. The final, uncomfortable answer here is that most of these people are actually guilty. If they filed the writ, it would only serve to speed up the actual filing of charges. This could be seen as a good thing, but why would you take the few thousand dollars to file habeas corpus when your family is now suffering because you aren't working anymore - and because you committed the crime you aren't going to be working for some time to come. So might as well wait out the period anyway. Is it fair or good? No, its brutal calculus.