Arrest of foreigners

Special focus will be on to what extent there are differing rules for apprehension and arrest of foreigners, compared to nationals, and in which direction differing practices have developed with respect to different groups of foreign nationals.

In Norway, foreigners can be apprehended and arrested both according to the relevant provisions in the Norwegian Criminal Procedural Code (section 171 and following) and the Foreigners Act (section 106). The project focuses on possibilities to apprehend foreigners both according to the criminal procedural rules and the rules in the Foreigners Act, and the interaction of these two tracks. The fact that the number of foreigners in Norwegian detention (custody) has increased greatly in the last few years is an important incentive to the project.

The project will compare Norwegian legislation and case law to the relevant rules and practices in other Nordic states. The project also aims at analysing and discussing legislation and case law in relation to general principles, such as the principle of legality and the principle of equality. In this respect, the project seeks to discover whether foreigners are differently treated than nationals and if so, if this treatment is objectively motivated.