Preventive detention is considered the most controversial measure within the criminal law consequences system. There are significant uncertainties regarding the doctrinal classification of these measures as either criminal or police law, as well as in the assessment of the relationships between the various criminal law traces. These uncertainties are not new; rather, they reflect the ongoing unresolved debate about the relationship between culpability and prevention in criminal law. Starting from the theories of crime, this study examines the doctrine of the dual-track consequences system, with particular attention to preventive detention, and evaluates it from a constitutional and human rights perspective. The discussion explores how the tensions within the measures of law can be alleviated and how the resurgence of preventive detention can be explained.