In this paper, which is empirically grounded in ethnographic research conducted among persons living in Norway without legal permission, we explore the temporal dimensions of irregular migration. In the first half, we consider the time aspects of migration control. In particular, we examine the politicization of time within the host of b/ordering policies, practices, and processes through which migrant irregularity is produced and governed in the Norwegian welfare state. We then move into a discussion of migrant irregularity as it is subjectively experienced, in which we solicit time as fundamental unit of analysis with the potential to render phenomenologically intelligible irregularity as it is lived and negotiated. In doing so, we draw upon two classical Greek concepts of time, chronos and kairos, and we consider the conditions of limitation and possibility for reckoning as meaningful experiences of and in time. This entails an exploration of the ways in which the research participants had emplotted their experiences within narratives that they, in retrospect, recalled having crafted at various points in their lives, and of the existential dilemmas that they confronted when these narratives could no longer be sustained. Ultimately, these endeavors produce an analysis of both these meaning-making strategies and what might be understood as the unique temporalities of irregular migration, as it is produced and governed, lived and embodied, and potentially also renegotiated and transformed.

BackgroundOpioid maintenance treatment (OMT) is regarded as a crime control measure. Yet, some individuals are charged with violent criminal offenses while enrolled in OMT. This article aims to generate nuanced knowledge about violent crime among a group of imprisoned, OMT-enrolled individuals by exploring their understandings of the role of substances in violent crime prior to and during OMT, moral values related to violent crime, and post-crime processing of their moral transgressions.MethodsTwenty-eight semi-structured interviews were undertaken among 12 OMT-enrolled prisoners. The interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. An exploratory, thematic analysis was carried out with a reflexive and interactive approach.FindingsPrior to OMT, substances and, in particular, high-dose benzodiazepines were deliberately used to induce ‘antisocial selves’ capable of transgressing individual moral codes and performing non-violent and violent criminal acts, mainly to support costly heroin use. During OMT, impulsive and uncontrolled substance use just prior to the violent acts that the participants were imprisoned for was reported. Yet, to conduct a (violent) criminal act does not necessarily imply that one is without moral principles. The study participants maintain moral standards, engage in complex moral negotiations, and struggle to reconcile their moral transgressions. Benzodiazepines were also used to reduce memories of and alleviate the guilt associated with having committed violent crimes.ConclusionsSubstances are used to transgress moral codes prior to committing and to neutralize the shame and guilt experienced after having committed violent crimes. Being simultaneously enrolled in OMT and imprisoned for a (violent) crime might evoke feelings of ‘double’ shame and guilt for both the criminal behavior prior to treatment and the actual case(s) one is imprisoned for while in OMT. Treatment providers should identify individuals with histories of violent behavior and, together with them, explore concrete episodes of violence and their emotional reactions. Particular attention should be given to potential relationships between substance use and violence and treatment approaches tailored accordingly. What appears as severe antisocial personality disorder may be partly explained by substance use.