562
Opinion of Souter, J.
reasons for detaining them in particular. 533 U. S., at 702.17
We can insist on nothing less here, since the Government's justification for detaining individuals like Zadvydas and Ma, who had no right to remain in this country and were proven flight risks and dangers to society, id., at 684-686, is certainly stronger (and at least no weaker) than its interest in detaining a lawful permanent resident who has not been shown (or even claimed) to be either a flight risk or a threat to the community.18
The Court's closest approach to a reason justifying class-wide detention without exception here is a Senate Report stating that over 20% of nondetained criminal aliens failed
17 The Court is therefore mistaken in suggesting that I view the detention of the individual aliens in Zadvydas as serving a governmental purpose. Ante, at 527, n. 10. The Court confuses the "statute in Zadvydas, viewed outside the context of any individual alien's detention," supra, at 561, with the "detention at issue in Zadvydas," ante, at 527, n. 10, namely, the detention of Zadvydas and Ma as individuals. The due process analysis in Zadvydas concentrated on the latter, holding that the detention of Zadvydas and Ma would not serve a legitimate immigration purpose if there were no "significant likelihood of removal in the reasonably foreseeable future." 533 U. S., at 701. Thus, the Court's suggestion in this case that "the statutory provision" authorizes "detention" that prevents deportable aliens from fleeing as a general matter, ante, at 527-528, is no sufficient basis for claiming Zadvydas as support for the Court's methodology or result. Rather, the Court should consider whether the detention of Kim as an individual is necessary to a compelling Government interest, just as it did for the detention of Zadvydas and Ma as individuals. As the Government concedes, Kim's individual detention serves no Government purpose at all.
18 Nor can the general risk of recidivism, ante, at 518-519, justify this measure. The interest in preventing recidivism may be vindicated "by the ordinary criminal processes involving charge and conviction, the use of enhanced sentences for recidivists, and other permissible ways of dealing with patterns of criminal conduct." Foucha v. Louisiana, 504 U. S. 71, 82 (1992). The ability to detain aliens in removal proceedings who pose threats to the community also satisfies this interest. Cf. United States v. Salerno, 481 U. S. 739 (1987). The alternative to detention, of course, is not unrestricted liberty, but supervised release, which also addresses the risk of recidivism. Zadvydas, 533 U. S., at 696.
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