The primary requirement for issuing a detention order under the Act in respect of 'goonda' is repeated conduct, attempt to commit, or abetment of commission of offenses listed in the description of the term "goonda".

[7] Once a person is detained, his or her family has 12 days to request for his or her release, first to the state for evaluation, then to the advisory panel established under Section 10 of the Act.

The government based its decision on a 2011 Madras High Court judgement that said that "even a single crime allows imprisonment of a person as a Goonda, under the Act.

He intended to enact a strict law to prosecute and punish anyone who unlawfully produces, sells, disrupts public order, instigates violence, or indulges in smuggling and embezzlement.

[8] In 2004, the Government of Tamil Nadu led by the Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa amended the term "video pirates" to include individuals who commit, try to commit, or aid and abet the commission of copyright infringement offenses in connection to a cinematograph film or a record incorporating any part of the sound track connected with the movie to be punishable under the Copyright Act, 1957;[9] the theft and sale of films on compact discs (CDs) was brought under the Act.

[10][11] In 2006, the "sand offenders" were also included in this act by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government to punish criminal syndicates in the sand-supply business.