Criminology

Project description: This research proposal addresses a contested topic, expulsion of foreign offenders. The primary data consists of the analysis of expulsion decisions for Estonian, Romanian, and West African citizens in 2014 and 2018. The comparative research setting enables to examine both racialized practices in the criminalization of migration and and tightening of immigration policies after the refugee crisis in 2015. The use of expulsion decisions as a research data is novel in the international context. Moreover, this research discusses the relation between the criminal law and the immigration law in migration management. The punitive application of the immigration law points to the separation of legal practices for citizens and non-citizens, which has significant implications for the whole judicial system. This research contributes to the international debates by breaking new empirical, methodological, and theoretical grounds in the field of migration studies and criminology. / Hankkeen julkinen kuvaus: Tutkimushanke käsittelee kiistanalaista aihetta, ulkomaalaisten rikosperusteisia käännytyksiä. Hankkeen pääasiallisena aineistona ovat Viron, Romanian ja Länsi-Afrikan kansalaisille tehdyt käännytyspäätökset vuonna 2014 ja 2018. Vertaileva tutkimusasetelma mahdollistaa tarkastella sekä maahanmuuton kriminallisoinnin rodullistettuja ulottuvuuksia että maahanmuuttopolitiikan kiristämistä vuoden 2015 ”pakolaiskriisin” jälkeen. Käytetty aineisto on ainutlaatuinen kansainvälisessä kontekstissa. Tutkimus pureutuu ulkomaalaislain ja rikoslain väliseen yhteyteen maahanmuuton hallinnassa. Ulkomaalaislain rankaiseva soveltaminen viittaa oikeuskäytäntöjen eriytymiseen rikosprosesseissa kansalaisten ja ulkomaalaisten välillä, millä on laajempia merkityksiä koko oikeusjärjestelmän kannalta. Tutkimus tuottaa uutta empiiristä tietoa sekä metodologisesti ja teoreettisesti uudenlaisia lähestymistapoja suhteessa kansainväliseen keskusteluun muuttoliikkeistä ja kriminologiasta.

Linked to terrorism, moral breakdown, and societal decay, Transnational Organised Crime (TOC) has come to embody current global anxieties as a figure of fear and cause of disquiet. Yet despite its central position on the social and political radar, our knowledge of it remains limited and fragmentary. Quantitative analyses may have identified the scale of the problem, but its underlying socio-cultural logic and practices remain under-researched and largely obscure. TOC is on the rise, and we need better insights into how it develops and expands, who engages in it and why, and how it is linked to and embedded in social networks that straddle countries and contexts. CRIMTANG proposes a unique approach to the study of the social infrastructure of contemporary TOC. It develops a research strategy that is ethnographic and transnational in design and so attuned to the human flows and formations of TOC. The project comprises a trans-disciplinary research team of anthropologists, criminologists and political scientists, and builds on their prior experience of the people, regions and languages under study. It explores the illegal and overlapping flows of migrants and drugs from North-West Africa into Europe, following a key trafficking trajectory stretching from Tangiers to Barcelona, Paris and beyond. In so doing, CRIMTANG sheds new light on the actual empirical processes in operation at different points along this trafficking route, whilst simultaneously developing new theoretical and methodological apparatuses for apprehending TOC that can be exported and applied in other regions and contexts. It reimagines the idea of social entanglement and proposes new transnational and collective fieldwork strategies. Finally, it will advance and consolidate the European research environment on TOC by creating a research hub for transnational ethnographic criminology at the University of Copenhagen.

To what extent is human smuggling a criminal enterprise driven by solidarity and cooperation? This is the question that my project “MAPS – Migrants And People Smugglers” addresses through a comparative study – of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Central American smuggling corridors. Having almost concluded my research in the Eastern Mediterranean corridor, the project will concentrate almost exclusively on the Central American route in order to identify similarities and differences in the organizational structures of smuggling networks, the smuggler-migrant relationship, and the profile of the facilitators. MAPS seeks to make a contribution to studies on Human Smuggling and Irregular Migration, where there is a keen interest in – yet still insufficient knowledge about – the interaction between migrants and facilitators and where criminological perspectives still dominate the debate. MAPS adopts a critical perspective and departs from the idea that smugglers obey only to a profit making logic. Inviting instead for a more complex understanding of their roles, it argues that human smuggling is embedded within ethnic networks and local economies, which are grounded on deep notions of solidarity and reciprocity. By expanding current knowledge around smuggling and its related policies, the project also aims to provide an empirical platform for policy engagement. In order to achieve its research aims, I will be based at the San Diego State University (SDSU), located at the proximities of the US/Mexican border and renown for being a centre of excellence on migratory trends from Central American. Here, I will be trained in Critical Criminology, Hispanic Studies and Social Network Analysis under the supervision of Prof Sheldon Zhang. Upon returning to my European host institution, the EUI, I will bring my new skills and further improve my policy and dissemination training under the supervision of Prof Triandafyllidou at the Cultural Pluralism Area of the GGP (EUI).

Even though attitudes and practices of ethnic minority groups in Belgium have been extensively studied in the last decade, little is known about the prevalence and nature of their substance use (alcohol and illicit drugs). It therefore remains an under-researched topic, especially in Europe (Bashford et al., 2004). One of the main reasons lies in conceptual and methodological issues that complicate research on ethnicity. These issues, combined with the multidimensional nature of drug use, fear of accusations of racism and discrimination, and a general lack of minority ethnic health and social care workers and researchers, have created an environment where the theme of ethnicity, drug use and related service provision has been neglected. A necessary first step towards a holistic approach for these specific populations is to establish accurate information on the extent of drug use and its possible determinants. This project re-unites a multidisciplinary network (sociology, criminology, special education and social work) that has previously performed the Belspo-funded study on ‘Treatment trajectories of drug users from ethnic minorities’ (ZEMIV-project 2006-2007; Derluyn et al., 2008) - aims to help fill this gap. The general objectives of this research are: • to contribute to a better understanding of the prevalence and nature of drug use among ethnic and cultural minorities (ECM) in Belgium; • to unveil the determining factors behind substance use (illicit drugs and alcohol); • to increase ECM capacity in raising awareness about drug issues within the participants’ own communities; • and to assess the needs of ECM and articulate them with the actors responsible for planning services.

'This project has two primary, interrelated, goals: to develop new methodological and intellectual tools in understanding the global and transnational reach of penal power and to revitalize the literature on subjectivity and identity in criminology. It is guided by three research questions that it will investigate in four distinct yet inter-related areas: penal theory, the contemporary prison, the immigration detention centre and human rights law. The research questions are: 1) What is the relationship between penal power and national identity? 2) How is that relationship gendered? 3) What do the experiences and views of those subject to penal power tell us about (the limits and nature of) state power in a global age? Taking the prison, the immigration detention centre and the immigration and asylum tribunal as sites where local/national and global power intersect, this project will examine theoretically and empirically the ways in which people experience and negotiate such places, paying particular attention to how matters of identity, especially race, gender, national identification and their intersections, shape the experience, meaning and effects of incarceration. By placing race, gender, and citizenship at the centre of analysis of penal power, this project seeks not only to hold up to scrutiny such core explanatory concepts as legitimacy, culture and power, but also to develop an empirically grounded theoretical framework that will overcome the boundaries between macro and micro-level sociological approaches to incarceration. In so doing the research will significantly reorient how penal power is investigated and understood.'

The core intellectual aim of BIOSEC is to explore whether concerns about biodiversity protection and global security are becoming integrated, and if so, in what ways. It will do so via building new theoretical approaches for political ecology. Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Director of UNEP recently stated ‘the scale and role of wildlife and forest crime in threat finance calls for much wider policy attention’. The argument that wildlife trafficking constitutes a significant source of ‘threat finance’ takes two forms: first as a lucrative business for organised crime networks in Europe and Asia, and second as a source of finance for militias and terrorist networks, most notably Al Shabaab, Lord’s Resistance Army and Janjaweed. BIOSEC is a four year project designed to lead debates on these emerging challenges. It will build pioneering theoretical approaches and generate new empirical data. BIOSEC takes a fully integrated approach: it will produce a better conceptual understanding of the role of illegal wildlife trade in generating threat finance; it will examine the links between source and end user countries for wildlife products; and it will investigate and analyse the emerging responses of NGOs, government agencies and international organisations to these challenges. BIOSEC goes beyond the ‘state-of-the art’ because biodiversity protection and global security currently inhabit distinctive intellectual ‘silos’; however, they need to be analysed via an interdisciplinary research agenda that cuts across human geography, politics and international relations, criminology and conservation biology. This research is timely because in the last two years, the idea that the illegal wildlife trade constitutes a major security threat has become more prevalent in academic and policy circles, yet it is an area that is under researched and poorly understood. These recent shifts demand urgent conceptual and empirical interrogation.

TRafficking as A Criminal Enterprise (TRACE) aims to support stakeholders in combating and disrupting human trafficking, one of the largest criminal enterprises in the world, by assessing and consolidating information surrounding the perpetrators and the wider trafficking enterprise. TRACE adopts a multi-disciplinary approach: legal, criminological, socio-economical, psychological and law enforcement-oriented, in order to provide a full account of the phenomenon, and build upon on-going European and national projects and activities. It will focus on the activities of the perpetrators by developing an understanding of the structure, social relationships, modus operandi, travel routes and technologies associated with different types of human trafficking (human trafficking for sexual exploitation, labour exploitation, forced criminal activities etc.). Based on the analysis of perpetrators’ behaviour TRACE seeks to be able to better identify who is in danger of being trafficked and furthermore, who is vulnerable to becoming involved in human trafficking (including those who may have been victims themselves). TRACE acknowledges that human trafficking involves a chain of criminal behaviours, activities and processes and will consolidate up-to-date information, good practice and expert opinion to provide stakeholders with an intervention strategy based on policy recommendations for disrupting the trafficking chain. These recommendations will be based on stakeholder consensus reached via interviews, expert workshops, and the final conference. TRACE has designed its dissemination plan, including the development of briefing papers, to disseminate relevant up-to-date information surrounding the different facets of the project to relevant stakeholders in order to support their efforts in disrupting the business of trafficking in human beings.

TRafficking as A Criminal Enterprise (TRACE) aims to support stakeholders in combating and disrupting human trafficking, one of the largest criminal enterprises in the world, by assessing and consolidating information surrounding the perpetrators and the wider trafficking enterprise. TRACE adopts a multi-disciplinary approach: legal, criminological, socio-economical, psychological and law enforcement-oriented, in order to provide a full account of the phenomenon, and build upon on-going European and national projects and activities. It will focus on the activities of the perpetrators by developing an understanding of the structure, social relationships, modus operandi, travel routes and technologies associated with different types of human trafficking (human trafficking for sexual exploitation, labour exploitation, forced criminal activities etc.). Based on the analysis of perpetrators’ behaviour TRACE seeks to be able to better identify who is in danger of being trafficked and furthermore, who is vulnerable to becoming involved in human trafficking (including those who may have been victims themselves). TRACE acknowledges that human trafficking involves a chain of criminal behaviours, activities and processes and will consolidate up-to-date information, good practice and expert opinion to provide stakeholders with an intervention strategy based on policy recommendations for disrupting the trafficking chain. These recommendations will be based on stakeholder consensus reached via interviews, expert workshops, and the final conference. TRACE has designed its dissemination plan, including the development of briefing papers, to disseminate relevant up-to-date information surrounding the different facets of the project to relevant stakeholders in order to support their efforts in disrupting the business of trafficking in human beings.

"Im Jahr 2015 vergrößerte sich der Migrations- und Flüchtlingsstrom nach Europa und vor allem auch nach Deutschland enorm. Die (medial) als „Flüchtlingskrise“ verklärte Hochphase der Flüchtlingsbewegen zwischen Spätsommer 2015 und Frühjahr 2016 stellte sowohl die an der Bewältigung der Lage beteiligten staatlichen Institutionen als auch die gemeinnützigen sowie privaten Organisationen vor große Herausforderungen. So kam es von Kommunen und Ministerien bis hin zu Polizei, Sicherheitsdiensten und Hilfsorganisationen zu stark belastenden und problematischen Situationen – sowohl im Hinblick auf die individuelle Organisation und deren Auslastung als auch bezüglich der Kooperationen zwischen den Organisationen. Wie die Akteure diese Situation wahrnahmen und damit umgingen, wie sie mit anderen kooperierten, welche Erfolge und Misserfolge sich dabei einstellten, was sie daraus gelernt haben und inwiefern die Situation sie nachhaltig verändert hat, ist allerdings noch immer, trotz der Wichtigkeit der Antworten, weitgehend unbehandelt geblieben. Es ist nachvollziehbarerweise davon auszugehen, dass in besonders fordernden Situationen wie bei Krisen, Katastrophen o.ä. keine personellen Ressourcen zur Verfügung stehen, um etwaige Management- und Handlungsansätze sowie Kooperationsstrategien zu dokumentieren und so für spätere, ähnliche Situationen reproduzier- und vermittelbar zu machen. Daher verwundert es nicht, dass besonders in diversen Erstaufnahmeeinrichtungen (EAE) diese Arbeitsprozesse, organisationsübergreifende und innerorganisatorische Vorgänge und Mechanismen aufgrund der damaligen fordernden Situationen nicht dokumentiert und aufbereitet werden konnten. Entsprechende Szenarien (Skandale wie auch Positivbeispiele) verweisen darauf, wie unterschiedlich Kooperationen von Polizei, Hilfsorganisationen, Kommunen etc. verliefen. Vor diesem Hintergrund konzentriert sich das vorliegende Projektvorhaben auf Sicherheitskooperationen und umgesetzte Maßnahmen der o.a. Akteure rund um EAE. Die fehlende Aufbereitung der Situation stellt für alle Akteure insofern ein Problem dar, als dass bei zukünftigen ähnlichen akuten Herausforderungen kein Rückgriff auf bewährte Ansätze und Maßnahmen möglich ist, die eine schnelle Problembewältigung erlauben würden. Im schlimmsten Fall „vergessen“ die Organisationen und Institutionen, wie gehandelt wurde und welche Handlungen sich bewährt bzw. nicht bewährt haben und jene wiederholen in diesem Fall sogar möglicherweise die aufgetretenen Fehler. Aufgrund der begrenzten Ressourcen und der breit dokumentierten Aus- und Belastungssituation besteht aber insbesondere auf Seiten der o.a. Akteure (Kommunen, Hilfsorganisationen, Polizei und private Sicherheit) ein großes Interesse daran, die im Rahmen der zurückliegenden Ereignisse umgesetzten Maßnahmen gemeinsam mit den anderen beteiligten Akteuren zu reflektieren, zu evaluieren und in Form von erfahrungsfundierten Kooperationsstrategien für eine reibungslosere und geordnetere Problembewältigung in der Zukunft bereitzustellen. Hier ist ein großer Forschungsbedarf erkennbar, dem sich der Projektverbund „Sicherheitskooperationen und Migration (SiKoMi)“ annimmt. PROJEKTZIELE UND VORGEHENSWEISE Das Forschungsvorhaben SiKoMi zielt darauf ab, die Kooperationen und Maßnahmen, die in und rund um die Erstaufnahmeeinrichtungen (EAE) während der „Flüchtlingskrise“ umgesetzt wurden, detailliert zu untersuchen. Dies erfolgt über ein Mixed-Method Untersuchungsdesign (Arbeitspakete (AP) 1 und 2). Dadurch ist es möglich, ein bislang kaum erforschtes Phänomen zunächst explorativ mittels mindestens vier Tiefenfallstudien (in Berlin, Osnabrück und Trier) zu ergründen und darauf aufbauend eine bundesweite Fragebogenerhebung durchzuführen, um Träger und Betreiber von EAE zu Kooperationen, Maßnahmen sowie Erfahrungen zu befragen (AP 2). Alle Ergebnisse werden praxisgerecht aufbereitet (AP 3) und in digitalen Qualifizierungsreihen sowie einem interorganisationalen Wissensmanagement den Endanwendern zugänglich gemacht (AP 4 und 5). Dadurch sollen sich diese auf zukünftige ähnliche Herausforderungen besser vorbereiten können."