Foreign National Offenders in the UK: shifting thresholds of deportability, diverse trajectories

In a climate of 'hostile environment' policies on migration, this research will focus on the experiences of Foreign National Offenders (FNOs) in the UK - people whose lives are governed simultaneously by the criminal justice and immigration systems. It will explore the shifting construction of the FNO category and its implications for deportability, and map the diverse trajectories of FNOs after the end of their prison sentence. This research will unpack the impacts of under-researched and shadowy recent policy developments such as Operation Nexus, which enables deportation based on circumstantial evidence, police contact and other 'intelligence' (Griffiths 2017); and the increasing use of home-country convictions as the basis for deportation (Home Office 2018a).

Firstly, this research advances the field of carceral geographies by exploring post-sentence trajectories of FNOs, a group uniquely governed by immigration and criminal justice systems. Secondly, it builds on literature on the criminalisation of migration and the convergence of the immigration and criminal justice spheres (Aliverti 2012, Stumpf 2016), and contributes to the emergent body of work on FNOs subject to immigration control in the UK. Existing research on FNOs interrogates the interconnections between punishment, citizenship and identity (Bosworth et al. 2016, Griffiths 2017); race and gender (Noronha 2015, Bhui 2016); and the specific challenges experienced by FNOs (Turnbull and Hasselberg 2017). This project will explore the impact of under-researched recent policy developments such as Operation Nexus and the changing composition of the FNO population. A further goal is to explore the different actors, policies and practices involved in determining who in practice is treated as a FNO subject to immigration control. Work on FNOs to date foregrounds the impact of legal developments such as the introduction of automatic deportation orders, but has largely not accounted for the role of other actors and practices, such as probation service assessments of harm. Research Objectives (ROs) 1) Trace the emergence of the FNO category and how its scope has been constructed and shifted over time; 2) Establish which actors, policies and practices determine who in practice is treated as a FNO subject to immigration control; 3) Assess the change in the composition of the FNO population since the 2007 Immigration Act; 4) Outline the different trajectories of FNOs post-sentence and how FNOs experience them; and the factors that impact these trajectories; 5) Explore how far the trajectory of immigration bail represents a continuation of the carceral experience for FNOs. Methodology 1) Policy review of relevant law and policy, including the 2007 Immigration Act and Home Office Casework Guidance (ROs 1, 2); 2) Freedom of Information requests to endeavour to access information not in the public sphere, for example Home Office operational guidance on the inclusion of home-country criminal convictions in deportation decisions (ROs 1, 2); 3) Quantitative analysis of Home Office data, to establish how post-sentence trajectories vary by characteristics such as nationality and gender (ROs 3, 4); 4) Case note review of (c.20) sample FNOs to identify rationales for deportation and post-sentence trajectories (ROs 1, 2, 4); 5) Semi-structured interviews with (c.20) FNOs, including (c.10) follow-up interviews to track trajectories and experiences over time (ROs 1, 2, 4, 5); 6) Semi-structured interviews with lawyers and NGO caseworkers (ROs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5).