Paper short abstract:

Decisions on the deportation of foreign national offenders are the result of a balancing of interests that are related to various anxieties. This contribution aims at outlining the opposed interests and the different strategies of the actors struggling over exclusion and against uncertainty.

Paper long abstract:

Currently, administrative and Court decisions on the deportation of foreign national offenders from Switzerland are the result of a balancing of interests which are guided by various anxieties. This paper seeks to present the arguments and strategies deployed both by the foreign nationals contesting the deportation order and the authorities and Courts defending it. While the main motive in favour of deportation is related to anxieties regarding the future violation of law, public order and security, the foreigners supposed to be removed from the Swiss territory argue in favour of them staying by pointing to their fears of having to leave the country they've been living in for years and of having to return to the state they are officially members of. As the foreigners threatened by deportation will exhaust every remedy they dispose of, it usually takes years until the final decision is taken. During this time, which is mostly spent in custody, uncertainty regarding their future place of stay characterizes their lives. Prison staff and penal authorities deal differently with this situation of having to prepare inmates to an uncertain future. In addition to this opposition of anxieties, these struggles over exclusion furthermore highlight contrary views of justice - each related to different subjects of justice. The paper is based on data collected in two Swiss prisons and with the penal and migration authorities responsible for decisions regarding penal conditions and deportation.

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