The Wrongs of Unlawful Immigration

Criminal Law and Philosophy, DOI 10.1007/s11572-015-9377-y (pp 1-18) (Online First)

Criminal Justice, Borders and Citizenship Research Paper No. 2634118

28 Pages Posted: 23 Jul 2015

See all articles by Ana Aliverti

Ana Aliverti

University of Warwick - School of Law

Date Written: 2015

Abstract

For too long, criminal law scholars overlooked immigration-based offences. Claims that these offence are not ‘true crimes’ or are a ‘mere camouflage’ to pursue non-criminal law aims deflect attention from questions concerning the limits of criminalization and leave unchallenged contradictions at the heart of criminal law theory. The purpose of this paper is to examine these offences through some of the basic tenets of criminal law. I argue that the predominant forms of liability for the most often used immigration offences are, at least in principle, controversial and depart from what is often presented as the paradigm in criminal law. Above all, immigration offences are objectionable because they fall short in fulfilling the harm principle and, given that criminal punishment as used against immigration offenders is often a secondary, ancillary sanction to deportation, they licence excessive imposition of pain.

Keywords: Immigration, Criminalization, Immigration offences, Harm principle, Deportation

Suggested Citation

Aliverti, Ana, The Wrongs of Unlawful Immigration (2015). Criminal Law and Philosophy, DOI 10.1007/s11572-015-9377-y (pp 1-18) (Online First), Criminal Justice, Borders and Citizenship Research Paper No. 2634118, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2634118 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2634118

Ana Aliverti (Contact Author)

University of Warwick - School of Law ( email )

Gibbet Hill Road
Coventry CV4 7AL, CV4 7AL
United Kingdom

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
153
Abstract Views
767
Rank
347,308
PlumX Metrics