Criminalization of Refugees in the Age of Insecurity and Mass Migration: Zygmunt Bauman on Ethnicity, Asylum and the new ‘Criminal’

Immigrants and refugees continue to be a controversial political issue in Western countries.  Negative impacts of globalization on European labor markets, increasing presence of ethnic minorities in the West, and increasing fear of terrorism and crime, have made them easy targets for hate crimes, governmental mistreatment, and demonization by the media.  Western governments are determined to prevent or restrict influx of refugees.  They have been progressively deserting their time-honored liberal principles and have been governing their people through politics of fear of crime and foreigners, and insecurity.  Refugees are subject to growing bigotry, criminalization, and transfer to inhumane camps.  Developing forms of dislocation, prejudice and criminalization of refugees have been key points of Zygmunt Bauman’s for several years now.  This paper discusses Bauman’s evolving views on criminalization of refugees.  It will discuss novel sociopolitical processes that he has recently pointed to as processes that sustain it.  &nbsp

Social Trust in Local Communities and Its Demographic, Socioeconomic Predictors: The Case of Kalloni, Lesvos, Greece

Social capital has been recognised as an important factor for the development of local communities and relevant literature review has associated high levels of trust with economic and local development. The present article explores one of the two basic dimensions of social capital, social trust (the other being civic participation) and its association with demographic variables, such as gender, age, educational level and income as predictors of development. A study was conducted in the municipality of Kalloni, Lesbos Greece, where social trust levels were measured among 302 inhabitants. Findings revealed that educational level and income are strong predictors of social trust, with better educated and better paid individuals showing higher probabilities of being trusting towards other people

Language as a Puppet of Politics: A Study of McCain’s and Obama’s Speech on Iraq War, a CDA Approach

On Tuesday, 4 November 2008 one of the most significant events of the world will happen: the presidential election of the U.S.1 The 44th president of the U.S will enter the White House on 20th January 2009. This election is in fact a competition between two main parties: republican and democratic. This paper studies the speeches of the nominees of these two parties: John McCain and Barack Obama. We selected one of their speeches on a similar topic (“Iraq War”) and incorporated their states in the framework of CDA introduced by Norman Fairclough. The results show that the two senators take two opposite strands on the same event. They use language as a means of promoting their own social, political, personal interests. Language is an effective means for power struggle

Criminals/Refugees in the Age of Welfareless States: Zygmunt Bauman on Ethnicity, Asylum and the new ‘Criminal’

Refugees have become a hotly debated political issue in the West. Adverse effects of globalization on European labor markets, the greater availability of ethnic minorities in this region, and fear of crime and terrorism, have made these groups convenient targets for waves of hate crimes, governmental escapegoating, and media-driven demonization since the end of the 1980s. Western governments are increasingly determined to restrict influx of refugees. They have been increasingly abandoning their liberal values and have been governing their population through politics of fear of crime and insecurity. Refugees are subject to increasing harassment, hatred, detention, discrimination, criminalization, and transfer to remote and dangerous places. Changing forms of displacement, racism and criminalization of refugees have increasingly become the focal points of Zygmunt Bauman’s work. This paper discusses Bauman’s views on criminalization of refugees. It will discuss the social processes that Bauman believes create and sustain it. I believe that Bauman’s conducive to a richer and a more coherent understanding of the new processes that create refugees

Liberal Democracy, Citizenship and Class: Unresolved Contradictions of Capitalism

With the post-war expansion of the welfare state, which provided a material basis for the adoption of social right as complementary to civil and political rights components of citizenship, there emerged an omnipresent conviction to assume that the institutionalization of citizenship in liberal democratic societies has not only deflected the threat of social instability but it has also eclipsed social class struggle from the plane of history. Contrary to this prevailing interpretation, which has failed to take into account the fragile nature of the social right component of citizenship, it will be demonstrated that the establishment of citizenship has not surmounted the inveterate contradictions of capitalist social relations

Towards a Conceptualization of Recidivism and Repetitive Behavior

Our main goal is to propose a prototype for a model in order to qualitatively vet uncontrolled behavior, foremost criminal recidivism, and we put forward the following research question (RQ): how might a prototype be constructed theorizing the process of uncontrolled repetitive behavior?  This paper is of a Conceptual design type. The conceptual design shows that each type of movement that a criminal makes has its own particularity and opportunity that cannot be repeated exactly from one event to the next. That is, the progress in an individual trajectory is dynamic in its character and cannot be reversed, here identified as Dynamic Replication rather than repeat behavior.  With this research it is probably safe to say that an individual has little knowledge of the direct outcome of a process of repetitive behavior and thus has little chance of departing from it, at least all by themself. In the criminal case, there are organizations that work in the direction of accepting a Dynamic Replication, which means an acceptance of processes in social networks but aiming to other desires and an individual mind. The prototype purports to help render clear—factor by factor, step by step, event by event, prop by prop—an individual’s entrapment through a recurrent mimicking behavior, frequently out of rational control in terms of its teleological outcome

From doldrums to progressing knowledge: Identifying stifling issues in criminological theory building and testing

In the explanation of crime, although each social science has a primary focus of theoretical development, there are a number of areas where disciplines unwittingly parallel one another. Such parallel development promotes unnecessary competition among theories and prevents them from progressing knowledge. Additionally, theorists often discard related concepts presented by other disciplines, if they considered at all, which is indicative of an imbalance in the disciplinary frame of reference (e.g., psychology over sociology). Such imbalance and lack of cross-referencing impedes the ability of theories to adequately explain and understand criminality. This paper revisits how the theorizing of crime may benefit from such cross-referencing through what we refer to as a reciprocating perspective. Drawing on interdisciplinary literature, we present a conceptual approach that can aid in strengthening theoretical development. Aiming to create an interdisciplinary bridge, we address key pitfalls in criminological theory development through four main elements: (1) concept formalization, (2) multi-level conceptualization, (3) causality, and (4) application. We also outline problems caused by such imbalance, and the progress made possible by the approach

Seasonality of violent and property crime in Nigeria: Some Preliminary Findings

This study examines seasonal patterns of crime in two Nigerian cities with varying weather conditions. Using residents’ perception of crime data, break-ins are perceived to occur more frequently in the low quality neighbourhoods in Benin City, whereas in Minna, it is perceived to occur regularly in the high quality neighbourhoods. Overall results show that Minna, with warmer climate has higher levels and seasonal variations for violent crime (assaults) while Benin City, with colder climates has higher levels and seasonal variations for property crimes (break-ins). It is apparent from this study that seasonal patterns of crime in one place may not translate effectively into another. Hence, continuous researches into seasonal analysis of crimes are justifiable in the security planning efforts to ensure an environment that is suitable for living, working and recreating

Inequities in Social Determinants of Health Factors and Criminal Behavior: A Case Study of Immigrant Ex-Offenders

When immigrants arrive in a new country, they often discover that being an immigrant does not allow them to integrate easily into the new society. Immigrant offenders are more likely to engage in criminal behaviors due to inequities in social determinants of health factors as a source of strain.  This study was focused on utilizing the personal experiences of immigrant offenders to discover the various circumstances that contributed to their criminal behavior. General Strain Theory has been shown to be a useable theoretical model in explaining the relationship between race/ethnicity and criminal behavior. The participants in this study were adult immigrant ex-offenders in the province of Alberta, Canada.  The results of the study indicated a consensus among ex-offenders that there are social determinants of health factors such as stress, income problem, education issues, employment issue, and health risk behaviors that have led them to commit crime.  The recommendations presented below are divided into three groups. Recommendations include:  (a) future research in federal, provincial and territorial correctional systems, (b) identification of multiple risk factors that lead an individual to commit crime, (c) crime prevention strategies that help prevent criminal behavior for immigrants.

The Agony of Injustice: The Adversarial Trial, Wrongful Convictions and the Agon of Law

This study examines the relationship between the adversarial legal system and wrongful convictions. Understanding the shortcomings of legal procedure as a contest, (especially in cases involving marginalized defendants), can be illuminated through a critical agonal analysis that reveals power imbalances and rule breaking. The paper addresses the trial of William Mullins-Johnson, a Canadian aboriginal man who spent 12 years incarcerated for a crime that never took place. The court is examined as an agonal space of contestation where victory in the adversarial trial is equated with factual, actionable truth. The analysis invokes the critical theory of agonism prefigured in Foucault’s under-explored theory of power as a ‘clash between forces.’ Although the adversarial system is premised on the value of fair play, the winner-loser structure can invite rule-breaking and violations of due-process to the gross disadvantage of the accused thereby reproducing forms of systemic discrimination and horrific miscarriages of justice. The aim of the study is not to provide a full synopsis of the Mullins-Johnson case but to suggest that agonistic theory can make critical contributions to understanding of the relation between adversarial legal contests and wrongful convictions