University of Plymouth PEARL https://pearl.plymouth.ac.uk 04 University of Plymouth Research Theses 01 Research Theses Main Collection 2016 Immigration policy and the role of political discourses in the relationship between foreign nationals and crime in England and wales Al-Faris, Khamael Hasan Naji http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/4576 Plymouth University All content in PEARL is protected by copyright law. Author manuscripts are made available in accordance with publisher policies. Please cite only the published version using the details provided on the item record or document. In the absence of an open licence (e.g. Creative Commons), permissions for further reuse of content should be sought from the publisher or author. 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Word count of the main body of research: Sign …………………………………… Date …………………………………… I IMMIGRATION POLICY AND THE ROLE OF POLITICAL DISCOURSES IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FOREIGN NATIONALS AND CRIME IN ENGLAND AND WALES By KHAMAEL HASAN NAJI AL-FARIS A research submitted to Plymouth University in partial fulfilment for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Plymouth Law School Criminology and Criminal Justice Department February 2016 II Immigration policy and the role of political discourses in the relationship between foreign nationals and crime in England and wales Khamael Hasan Naji Al-Faris ABSTRACT Significant criminological attention has been given to the relationship between immigration and crime. However, this relationship has not been researched in the UK to any great extent, and consequently the information on the UK context is limited. This research investigates how the criminality of foreign nationals have been constructed by examining the nature of immigration policy, foreign criminality discourses, and the media in the UK to understand how crime in particular has been used to define, refine, and inform control of immigrants. This study refers to the legislative, policy, and political factors that underpin this process, and particularly explains how immigration policy and political debates have emphasised the criminality of foreign nationals in the UK. In order to achieve these goals, this research reviews a brief history of British immigration policy and legislation and outlines the connections made between foreign nationals and non-immigration criminal offences. In addition, secondary data from different British institutions and data collected via the Freedom of Information Act 2000 have been used to illustrate the level of foreigners’ criminality as well as the type of crimes compared to the British representation. Finally, Parliamentary debates and related political discourses have been used to examine the role of politics has in reinforcing the relationship between foreign nationals and crime and elevating negative public sentiment and the relationship with media reports. This research highlights the limitations of existing data relating to the criminality of foreign nationals in offending records in England and Wales, partly due to the disorganised recording of offender nationality. This study reveals that nationality is the new racism; whilst immigration has become a central focus in political and public discourses on crime they as a group in statistical terms exhibit low levels of offending but are more likely to be imprisoned for less serious crimes. The relationship between foreign nationals and crimes is thus a political issue rather than a legal one. As such, foreign nationals supposed criminality has been used to control immigration, avoid the blame of failing policies, gain electoral votes, and facilitate changes in immigration and crime policies. III CONTENTS ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... III LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................................ XII LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................................... XV LIST OF ACTS .............................................................................................................................. XVI LIST OF BILLS AND CONVENTIONS ............................................................................................. XVII LIST OF WHITE AND GREEN PAPERS ......................................................................................... XVIII LIST OF PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEES REPORTS ................................................................... XVIII LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................................. XX DEDICATION .............................................................................................................................. XXII ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .............................................................................................................. XXIII AUTHOR’S DECLARATION ......................................................................................................... XXIV CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................... - 1 - BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY ............................................................................................ - 1 - WHO IS AN IMMIGRANT?..................................................................................................... - 4 - 1.2.1 Immigration policy and the definition of immigrants ................................. - 5 - 1.2.1 Political discourses and the definition of immigrants ........................................ - 6 - 1.2.2 National surveys and the definition of immigrants .................................... - 7 - 1.2.3 The implication of adapting different definitions and the subject of this study……………………………. ......................................................................................... - 9 - MOTIVATIONS FOR THIS STUDY .................................................................................. - 10 - AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ............................................................................................... - 11 - RESEARCH QUESTIONS............................................................................................... - 12 - DATA AND METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................... - 13 - OVERVIEW OF THE RESEARCH PLAN .......................................................................... - 15 - IV CHAPTER 2 THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF LINKING FOREIGN NATIONALS TO NON-IMMIGRATION CRIMINAL OFFENCES ............................................................ - 18 - IMMIGRATION DISCIPLINE AND THE EARLY CRIMINALISATION OF ‘ALIENS’ ................ - 19 - 2.1.1 The beginnings of the criminalisation of foreign nationals ................... - 19 - 2.1.2 Welcoming refugees and connecting them to crime ............................... - 22 - 2.1.2.1 From Catholic to Protestant doctrine: England has changed ................... - 22 - 2.1.2.2 Criminalising the newcomers (refugees) ........................................................ - 23 - 2.1.3 The national security threat and the right of seeking asylum ............... - 25 - THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION AND CRIMINALISING FOREIGNERS ............................. - 27 - 2.2.1 Economic impacts and foreign nationals’ criminality ............................. - 27 - 2.2.2 Irish experience: A case study ....................................................................... - 29 - 2.2.2.1 The characteristics of Irish foreign nationals ................................................ - 29 - 2.2.2.2 Irish population pressure and public negative sentiments ........................ - 30 - 2.2.2.2.1 Overcrowding ................................................................................................... - 31 - 2.2.2.2.2 Public health pressures ................................................................................. - 31 - 2.2.2.2.3 Labour market pressures .............................................................................. - 32 - 2.2.2.2.4 Drunkenness concern .................................................................................... - 33 - 2.2.2.2.5 Crime pressures............................................................................................... - 33 - 2.2.2.2.5.1 The Irish migrants and the police ....................................................... - 34 - 2.2.2.2.5.2 The representation of Irish migrants in prison statistics .............. - 34 - 2.2.2.2.5.3 Irish criminality by crime type .............................................................. - 35 - 2.2.2.2.6 The reasons for Irish criminality .................................................................. - 36 - 2.2.2.2.6.1 Explaining the overrepresentation of Irish in prison statistics .... - 36 - 2.2.2.2.6.2 Irish parenting and the relationship to crime.................................... - 37 - 2.2.2.2.6.3 The impact of racism on perceived Irish criminality ....................... - 38 - TH THE FIRST HALF OF THE 20 CENTURY .....................................................................