Renouncing criminal citizens: Patterns of denationalization and citizenship theory

This article examines the underlying aims of denationalization of criminal offenders by framing the discussion within citizenship theory. It argues that such citizenship revocation policies exclude individuals who are perceived as non-ideal citizens under a complex vision of citizenship that combines communitarian and liberal undertones, which has significant consequences for detecting those with weak claims to membership. To develop this argument, the article advances in the following way. I first argue that the ‘protective’ function of citizenship, which has so far shielded domestic offenders from expulsion, has been eroding due to increasing reliance on denationalization. I then show, by employing an original study of European policies, that the ‘protective’ function of citizenship is eroding not only in general terms, but that it furthermore targets citizens of a particular profile that is continuously changing. Finally, I argue that recent revocation policies that are premised on security concerns, promote a complex vision of citizenship that combines elements of communitarian and liberal conceptions of belonging and works to exclude citizens of foreign descent who, at the same time, repudiate liberal values. Consequently, the status of the criminal rather than non-citizen, gains prominence in determining those at risk of exclusion from the polity.