State reluctance to use alternatives to detention
Author(s) : Clément De Senarclens
Source : http://www.fmreview.org/detention/senarclens.html
Abstract:
States continue to show a marked reluctance to implement alternatives to immigration detention. The reason for this may well be because such alternatives ignore the disciplinary function of detention by which states coerce people into cooperation.
There has been a proliferation of reports in recent years emphasising the need to only use immigration detention as a last resort and highlighting the advantages that alternatives to detention represent for states, in terms of respecting people’s fundamental rights but also in terms of the cost of dealing with removals. Why then do states show so little interest in using alternatives to detention, in spite of the unquestionable advantages they appear to offer? The answer to this question may lie in the fact that the alternatives proposed ignore the disciplinary function of immigration detention.