Anssi Keinänen

Bio: Anssi Keinänen is an academic researcher from University of Eastern Finland. The author has contributed to research in topics: Imprisonment & Prison. The author has an hindex of 3, co-authored 10 publications receiving 40 citations.

The ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ of prisons: Carceral geography and home visits for prisoners in Finland

Abstract: This paper argues that the burgeoning sub-discipline of carceral geography needs to pay particular attention to context when theorising carceral space, and that the specific context of Finland offers a new and valuable perspective Much of the work within this new area of human geography originates in or pertains to the highly incarcerative, or ‘hypercarcerative’ contexts of the US, the UK and the Russian Federation, raising questions over the transferability of theorisations of the carceral to other less carcerative, or actively ‘de-carcerative’ settings By focussing specifically on one such setting, the low imprisonment context of Finland, this paper discusses Goffman’s ‘total institution’ thesis with reference to the system of ‘furloughs’ or home visits for prisoners In this paper we explore the extent to which this practice destabilises the inside/outside binary of the ‘total institution’, through the notion of heterotopia

Sukupuolten tasa-arvo sosiaali- ja terveysalan muutoksessa : Sote-henkilöstön tasa-arvotutkimus

Abstract: The aim of the survey is to investigate the equality impacts of the change in social and health care services as well as to highlight problems related to equality. The survey monitored the drafting of the regional government reform and the health and social services reform and assessed, through case examples, the impacts of the change on gender equality among the social and health care services personnel. Major problems in social and health care services are related to strong differentiation according to gender as well as the amount of pay in the female-dominated sector. Broad actions related to working conditions, management, pay and education are needed and launched as part of the reform in order to reduce

Prison Leave in Finland: Legal and Empirical Fundamentals of an Established Practice

Abstract: Prison leave was introduced into the Finnish legal system in 1971, with the aim to reduce negative effects of institutionalization and disadvantages caused by the length of the prison sentence. After the total reform of prison legislation in 2006, the role of the prison leave has become even more central; the number of prisoners has decreased, but the amount of prison leave has increased. Historically, the length of the sentence has been the most common ground for prison leave. A prisoner can be granted a prison leave when two thirds of the prison term has been served, for example, after 2 years if the length of the total sentence served in prison is 3 years. However, during the past 10 years, prison leave based on an important reason has grown into the most common type of prison leave. This indicates a structural change from the rigid legal rules to a more flexible practice. In 2018, there were about 17,000 prison leave applications, and over 13,000 of those were granted, i.e. 79%. The conditions were breached 466 times, which is 3.5% of all prison leaves. The most common breaches of prison leave conditions were returning from a prison leave after the set time limit or under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The majority of prison leave applications are decided in the prisons. On the other hand, for example, the decision on the prison leave of a life-sentenced prisoner is made by the Criminal Sanctions Agency. There have been significant differences in the probability of granting prison leave, which are emphasized especially in the practices of closed prisons. Among those prisoners who serve longer than 1 year in prison, the application rate of prison leave rises over 90%. For the sentences under 3 months, it is less than 20%.

Foundations of Economic Analysis of Law

Abstract: Foundations of Economic Analysis of Law, by Steven Shavell, 2004, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 737 pages Steven Shavell has contributed to the foundations of economic analysis of law in different manners According to Posner (2006), he is a member of the third generation of economic analysts of law-Coase, Becker, and Calabresi being the first group, with Posner himself, Landes, and Ehrlich forming the second Shavell has published several books and more than 100 articles on economics and on the economics of law He has contributed to the principal-agent theory (Shavell, 1979b) and, more particularly, to the moral hazard literature (Shavell, 1979a) This book proposes an overview of the fields in the economics of law to which the author has contributed It also covers in detail other fields and many contributions to the literature The emphasis is on theory, but some empirical facts are mentioned The book has twenty-nine chapters in seven parts or sections, a comprehensive list of references (786 references in the References section of the book), and two indexes (authors and subjects) It covers many subjects related to the economic analysis of basic law Particular attention is devoted to the positive analysis of law, although the normative aspect is also well covered The book is addressed to two broad audiences: economists and individuals interested in law with no formal background in economics There is no formal economic analysis in the text (but formal models are sometimes sketched in footnotes) and no detailed discussion of legal doctrine The subjects covered are important for any legal system: laws related to property, accidents, contracts, crimes, and their litigation process Specialized subjects such as labor, bankruptcy, or environmental law are not covered However, for the readers of the Journal of Risk and Insurance, accident law is discussed in detail (one section including five chapters that will be analyzed below) Chapter 1, the introduction to the book, presents the author's basic philosophy with regard to the economics of law He first distinguishes the positive analysis of the economics of law from its normative analysis Using his example for automobile accidents, the positive analysis is concerned with how a liability system affects accidents and litigation expenses, whereas the normative analysis looks at the social desirability of a liability system Two standard and important assumptions are made for the normative analysis First, the normative analysis does not take any of the distributive aspects into account; this is left to the income tax system and other transfer mechanisms Second, the notions of fairness and morality are not integrated in the analysis, although a significant effort is made to do so in part seven of the book The first four parts of the book treat areas related to private law: property law, liability for accidents, contract law, and civil litigation They are called private because they are enforced by the activities or suits of private parties The first of the four parts is devoted to property law Chapter 2 covers the rationale of ownership and the emergence of property rights The chapter defines concepts that are not often discussed in the standard economic literature For example, the author treats property rights, their justification, and their emergence Property rights are themselves divided into two types of rights: possessory rights and transfer rights The justification of property rights is mainly related to incentives: incentives to work, incentives to maintain and improve things, and incentives to transfer things Their emergence occurs when the advantages are greater than the costs of instituting and maintaining them Chapter 3 is devoted to the division of property rights while chapter 4 discusses, in detail, the acquisition and transfer of property rights, including transfer after death Chapter 5 concerns the issues of conflict and cooperation associated with the use of property rights …

Conceptualizing the carceral in carceral geography

Abstract: Carceral geography has yet to define the ‘carceral’, with implications for its own development, its potential synergies within and beyond geography, and effective critique of the carceral ‘turn’. A range of explicatory alternatives are open, including continued expansive engagement with the carceral, and attendance to compact and diffuse carceral models. We trace the origins of the term ‘carceral’, its expansive definition after Foucault, the apparent carceral/prison symbiosis, and the extant diversity of carceral geography. We advance for debate, as a step towards its critical appraisal, a series of ‘carceral conditions’ that bear on the nature and quality of carcerality.

Carceral circuitry: New directions in carceral geography

Abstract: Despite the popular impression of prisons and other carceral spaces as disconnected from broader social systems, they are traversed by various circulations that reach within and beyond their boundaries. This article opens a new analytical window onto this reality, developing the concept of ‘circuits’ to critically enquire into the carceral. Drawing inspiration from Harvey (1982; 1985), the article makes circuits do fresh work, teasing apart the emerging carceral landscape to provide a new critical epistemology for carceral geographies. In so doing, a meta-institutional agenda for critical carceral geography is derived, and possible ways to short-circuit carceral systems are revealed.

Disciplined Mobility and Carceral Geography: Prisoner Transport in Russia

Abstract: This paper identifies and addresses a significant weakness in the literature on mobility – the theorisation of mobility and power, and specifically, the consideration of mobility as an expression of power. It argues that the ‘mobilities turn’ has tended to draw a connection between mobility, autonomy and freedom, and in so doing has inadequately explored and theorised involuntary and coerced mobility. To illustrate this, the paper draws together two literatures that have thus far been poorly integrated, and that at first seem an unlikely pairing – the mobilities work that has exploded in scope and diversity over the past decade and that seeks to ‘undermine sedentarist theories’ in geography, and the nascent field of ‘carceral geography’, a body of work beginning to coalesce around the spatialities of detention and imprisonment, but that, in its focus on spatial regulation, has thus far tended to overlook the mobilities inherent in carceral practices. The two are drawn together through consideration of an example of ‘disciplined mobility’ – contemporary prisoner transport in the Russian Federation, which serves as an illustration both of punitive power expressed through mobility and of mobility in the carceral context. The paper then argues that future research in mobilities must consider more fully the disciplinary nature of mobility, and suggests that the concept of ‘disciplined mobility’, may form a framework for such future research.

Re‐discovering goffman: contemporary carceral geography, the “total” institution and notes on heterotopia

Abstract: Recent conceptual debates within carceral geography about spaces of detention have largely dismissed Goffman's micro‐level analysis of closed spaces and interaction. As a response to Baer and Ravne...