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Begin New Search Topic Criminal Justice Publication Year within 10 Years

11. Twenty Years After IIRIRA: The Rise of Immigrant Detention and Its Effects on Latinx Communities Across the Nation

Author:
Melina Juarez and Sonia Bettez
Publication Date:
01-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal on Migration and Human Security
Institution:
Center for Migration Studies of New York
Abstract:
This paper studies the dynamics of detention, deportation, and the criminalization of immigrants. We ground our analyses and discussion around the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996’s (IIRIRA’s) detention mandate, the role of special interest groups and federal policies. We argue that these special interest groups and major federal policies have come together to fuel the expansion of immigrant detention to unprecedented levels. Moreover, we aim to incite discussion on what this rapid growth in detention means for human rights, legislative representation and democracy in the United States. This study analyzes two main questions: What is the role of special interests in the criminalization of immigrants? And does the rapid increase in detention pose challenges or risks to democracy in the United States? Our study is grounded within the limited, yet growing literature on immigrant detention, government data, and “gray” literature produced by nonprofits and organizations working on immigration-related issues. We construct a unique dataset using this literature and congressional reports to assess what factors are associated with the rise of immigrant detention. A series of correlations and a time series regression analysis reveal that major restrictive federal immigration policies such as IIRIRA, along with the increasing federal immigration enforcement budget, have had a significant impact on immigrant detention rates. Based on these findings, we recommend three central policy actions. First, the paper recommends increased transparency and accountability on behalf of the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and on lobbying expenditures from for-profit detention corporations. Second, it argues for the repeal of mandatory detention laws. These mandatory laws have led to the further criminalization and marginalization of undocumented immigrants. And lastly, it argues that repeal of the Congressional bed mandate would allow for the number of detainees to mirror actual detention needs, rather than providing an incentive to detain. However, we anticipate that the demand for beds will increase even more given the current administration’s push for the criminalization and increased arrests of undocumented individuals. The rhetoric used by the present administration further criminalizes immigrants.
Topic:
Immigration, Border Control, Criminal Justice, and Mass Incarceration
Political Geography:
United States

12. After ISIL: Justice and Protection for Children in Iraq

Author:
John Millock
Publication Date:
01-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Harvard Journal of Middle Eastern Politics and Policy
Institution:
The John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University
Abstract:
ISIL recruited children through a variety of means, including abducting children from orphanages and hospitals, or offering to pay parents hundreds of dollars a month in exchange for each child’s attendance at military training. Additionally, child soldiers were often taken from particular ethnic groups or religious communities, such as Yazidis and Christians, as a means to terrorize these groups. Since the territorial collapse of ISIL began in 2017, many of these child soldiers have defected; some fled ISIL territory and are living anonymously in Europe while others returned to their home countries. Debates about how national legal systems should handle these former child soldiers have arisen in all of these jurisdictions. In Iraq, which has dealt with a particularly large number of former ISIL child soldiers, there have been concerns about the national justice system’s capacity to adequately address the prosecution and rehabilitation of ISIL’s former child soldiers.
Topic:
United Nations, Law, Children, Violent Extremism, Islamic State, Transitional Justice, Conflict, and Criminal Justice
Political Geography:
Iraq and Middle East

13. Justice for Syrian Victims Beyond Trials: The Need for New, Innovative Uses for Documentation of Human Rights Violations in Syria

Author:
Nousha Kabawat and Fernando Travesi
Publication Date:
05-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ)
Abstract:
By looking at the documentation efforts of Syrian civil society organizations, this paper challenges the notion that criminal prosecution is the sole avenue of justice available for alleged crimes in Syria. Documentation could be used for important other avenues of justice, such as acknowledgement, fulfilling victims’ right to truth, and informing and preparing future transitional justice processes. This paper makes several recommendations for what can be done with documentation to support Syrian victims.
Topic:
Civil Society, Transitional Justice, Criminal Justice, and Victims
Political Geography:
Middle East and Syria

14. Making Immigrants into Criminals: Legal Processes of Criminalization in the Post-IIRIRA Era

Author:
Leisy Abrego, Mat Coleman, and Daniel Martínez
Publication Date:
01-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Journal on Migration and Human Security
Institution:
Center for Migration Studies of New York
Abstract:
During a post-election TV interview that aired mid-November 2016, then President-Elect Donald Trump claimed that there are millions of so-called “criminal aliens” living in the United States: “What we are going to do is get the people that are criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers, we have a lot of these people, probably two million, it could be even three million, we are getting them out of our country or we are going to incarcerate.” This claim is a blatant misrepresentation of the facts. A recent report by the Migration Policy Institute suggests that just over 800,000 (or 7 percent) of the 11 million undocumented individuals in the United States have criminal records. Of this population, 300,000 individuals are felony offenders and 390,000 are serious misdemeanor offenders — tallies which exclude more than 93 percent of the resident undocumented population (Rosenblum 2015, 22-24).[1] Moreover, the Congressional Research Service found that 140,000 undocumented migrants — or slightly more than 1 percent of the undocumented population — are currently serving time in prison in the United States (Kandel 2016). The facts, therefore, are closer to what Doris Meissner, former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) Commissioner, argues: that the number of “criminal aliens” arrested as a percentage of all fugitive immigration cases is “modest” (Meissner et al. 2013, 102-03). The facts notwithstanding, President Trump’s fictional tally is important to consider because it conveys an intent to produce at least this many people who — through discourse and policy — can be criminalized and incarcerated or deported as “criminal aliens.” In this article, we critically review the literature on immigrant criminalization and trace the specific laws that first linked and then solidified the association between undocumented immigrants and criminality. To move beyond a legal, abstract context, we also draw on our quantitative and qualitative research to underscore ways immigrants experience criminalization in their family, school, and work lives. The first half of our analysis is focused on immigrant criminalization from the late 1980s through the Obama administration, with an emphasis on immigration enforcement practices first engineered in the 1990s. Most significant, we argue, are the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigration Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) and the 1996 Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA). The second section of our analysis explores the social impacts of immigrant criminalization, as people’s experiences bring the consequences of immigrant criminalization most clearly into focus. We approach our analysis of the production of criminality of immigrants through the lens of legal violence (Menjivar and Abrego 2012), a concept designed to understand the immediate and long-term harmful effects that the immigration regime makes possible. Instead of narrowly focusing only on the physical injury of intentional acts to cause harm, this concept broadens the lens to include less visible sources of violence that reside in institutions and structures and without identifiable perpetrators or incidents to be tabulated. This violence comes from structures, laws, institutions, and practices that, similar to acts of physical violence, leave indelible marks on individuals and produce social suffering. In examining the effects of today’s ramped up immigration enforcement, we turn to this concept to capture the violence that this regime produces in the lives of immigrants. Immigrant criminalization has underpinned US immigration policy over the last several decades. The year 1996, in particular, was a signal year in the process of criminalizing immigrants. Having 20 years to trace the connections, it becomes evident that the policies of 1996 used the term “criminal alien” as a strategic sleight of hand. These laws established the concept of “criminal alienhood” that has slowly but purposefully redefined what it means to be unauthorized in the United States such that criminality and unauthorized status are too often considered synonymous (Ewing, Martínez, and Rumbaut 2015). Policies that followed in the 2000s, moreover, cast an increasingly wider net which continually re-determined who could be classified as a “criminal alien,” such that the term is now a mostly incoherent grab bag. Simultaneously and in contrast, the practices that produce “criminal aliens” are coherent insofar as they condition immigrant life in the United States in now predictable ways. This solidity allows us to turn in our conclusion to some thoughts about the likely future of US immigration policy and practice under President Trump.
Topic:
Migration, Refugees, and Criminal Justice
Political Geography:
United States, Central America, and North America

15. Criminal Justice Practice and Violence Against Women

Author:
Kateryna Cherepakha, Alain Laferte, Kateryna Levchenko, Maryna Legenka, Mylene Socquet-Juglard, and Heather Huhtanen
Publication Date:
03-2017
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Razumkov Centre
Abstract:
The Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF) and La Strada-Ukraine (LSU) collaborated to assess the current practices of the Ukrainian criminal justice system in responding to violence against women and domestic violence. The specific purpose of this assessment was to explore the readiness of the criminal justice system to implement the principles and obligations associated with the Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (the Istanbul Convention), signed by Ukraine in 2011 and soon to be ratified. Intended to serve as a baseline for the development of policies and projects, this assessment is a key contribution to collective efforts to improve the criminal justice system response to violence against women and domestic violence.
Topic:
International Relations, Security, Gender Issues, Women, Gender Based Violence, Criminal Justice, and Judiciary
Political Geography:
Ukraine and Global Focus

16. The Role of Parliament in Police Governance: Lessons Learned from Asia and Europe

Author:
Mario Joyo Aguja, Hans Born, Arvind Verma, Aditya Batara Gunawan, Srisombat Chokprajakchat, Marleen Easton, Hartmut Aden, Peter Dillingh, and Vic Hogg
Publication Date:
01-2017
Content Type:
Book
Institution:
Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF)
Abstract:
As the primary agency for law enforcement, the police operates at close proximity to the public and exerts significant influence over the security of individuals and communities through its behaviours and performance. Therefore, ensuring accountability of both the individuals and institutions of the police is a fundamental condition for good governance of the security sector in democratic societies. The parliament, as the highest representative body in a democratic system, plays a significant role in maintaining police accountability. The objective of the edited volume on “The Role of Parliament in Police Governance: Lessons Learned from Asia and Europe” is to put forward good practices and recommendations for improving police accountability, with an emphasis on the strengthening of the role of parliament in police governance. The comparative analysis includes insights and lessons learned from eight country case studies including Belgium, Germany, India, Indonesia, the Netherlands, Philippines, Thailand and the United Kingdom. The findings of the cases studies can be taken into account when analysing and considering options for improving the accountability of the police to parliament as well as strengthening independent oversight bodies and parliament-police liaison mechanisms. However, it must be emphasised that these good practices always need to be adapted to the exigencies of the local context.
Topic:
Security, Governance, Law Enforcement, Criminal Justice, and State
Political Geography:
Geneva, United Kingdom, Europe, Indonesia, India, Asia, Philippines, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, and Thailand

17. Counter Terrorism Police in Pakistan and Role of Police: A Way Forward

Author:
Iram Khalid
Publication Date:
07-2017
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
South Asian Studies
Institution:
Department of Political Science, University of the Punjab
Abstract:
Countering terrorism is an essential national strategy. Pakistan, is making long term counter terrorism policies .This present research focuses on the role of police regarding this issue by raising some questions. What are the perceptions of public about police legitimacy, police performance, procedural justice and distributive justice? What are the instigating factors that may influence publics‟ attitude towards police and counter terrorism policing strategies? Pakistan police force must improve its police public relationship as a method to employ in combating and dealing with terror threats, since this strategy will have a direct impact on fight against terrorism in Pakistan. Miscreants attacked states legal institutions to make it more fragile in order to challenge the writ of the government. Police has also become target for these extremist groups in Pakistan because of its politicization that some terrorist organizations consider against their religious ethos so the role of police becomes important in the affairs of state. The best practices for fight against radicalization, Building Trust between the Citizens and the Police: Incorporating International Experiences and Police – Army Cooperation are important steps. Since the police is conscientious for positively symbolizing the authority of the state, their conduct to citizens is imperative for promotion of law-abiding approach amongst the public. Responsible role of police will help the state and society to counter terrorism in Pakistan.
Topic:
Security, Law Enforcement, Counter-terrorism, Criminal Justice, and State
Political Geography:
Pakistan, South Asia, and Punjab

18. Penal Policies and Institutions in Turkey: Structural Problems and Potential Solutions

Author:
Berkay Mandıracı
Publication Date:
03-2015
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV)
Abstract:
Penitentiaries and penal policies have been one of the many areas subjected to changes in the context of the judicial reform taking place in Turkey over the last several years. Officials have been inspired to develop new policies in this field by a number of factors: the rise in the number of inmates and the resulting capacity problem; the inefficacy of outdated municipal prisons; and the need to support the resocialization of inmates through new penal policies. Efforts to increase the resocializing impact of the penal system in Turkey and the mentality transformation aiming at overcoming the historical baggage the penal system carries in Turkey are positive. However, these have not yet produced satisfactory results. This is why human rights violations in penitentiaries in Turkey are still continuing. This report argues that the general aim of the penal regime should be based on ‘resocialization’. Therefore, individuals after going through all stages of the penal process and after facing their crime, should be given the opportunity to fully participate in society again. With this perspective the report assesses the current penal reform process in Turkey and puts emphasis on the need for a holistic penal regime that focuses on resocialization of offenders in all penal stages and applies international human rights standards.
Topic:
Human Rights, Prisons/Penal Systems, Reform, Criminal Justice, and Justice
Political Geography:
Turkey and Middle East