Nos últimos trinta trinta anos, houve profundas mudanças na forma como compreendemos o crime e a justiça criminal. O crime tornou-se um evento simbólico, um verdadeiro teste para a ordem social e para as políticas governamentais, um desafio para a sociedade civil, para a democracia e para os direitos humanos. Segundo David Garland, professor da Faculdade de Direito da New York University, um dos principais autores no campo da Sociologia da Punição e com artigo publicado na Revista de Sociologia e Política , número 13, na modernidade tardia houve uma verdadeira obsessão securitária, direcionando as políticas criminais para um maior rigor em relação às penas e maior intolerância com o criminoso. Há trinta anos, nos EUA e na Inglaterra essa tendência era insuspeita. O livro mostra que os dois países compartilham intrigantes similaridades em suas práticas criminais, a despeito da divisão racial, das desigualdades econômicas e da letalidade violenta que marcam fortemente o cenário americano. Segundo David Garland, encontram-se nos dois países os “mesmos tipos de riscos e inseguranças, a mesma percepção a respeito dos problemas de um controle social não-efetivo, as mesmas críticas da justiça criminal tradicional, e as mesmas ansiedades recorrentes sobre mudança e ordem sociais”1 (GARLAND, 2001, p. 2). O argumento principal da obra é o seguinte: a modernidade tardia, esse distintivo padrão de relações sociais, econômicas e culturais, trouxe consigo um conjunto de riscos, inseguranças e problemas de controle social que deram uma configuração específica às nossas respostas ao crime, ao garantir os altos custos das políticas criminais, o grau máximo de duração das penas e a excessivas taxas de encarceramento.

http://www.scielo.br/pdf/rsocp/n20/n20a15.pdf

The culture of control: crime and social order in contemporary, society

The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature

“There is a sequence to social science research: a dramatic event happens – say, September 11 – then a wave studies follows [...]. But then there is a predicament: we cannot tell how things have changed because we do not know how they were: and not knowing what has changed and what has not, we are not able to determine why what has happened, happened” (p. xi), argue Sniderman and Hagendoorn in their thorough study on multiculturalism, conflicts over identity and values in the Netherlands pre 9–11. Indeed in many studies 9/11 is seen as a landmark event, regarding the relations between Muslims and non-Muslims, but very often prior frictions and internal conflicts are not taken into account. Showing how prejudice had the strongest impact on support for equality (p.128) towards Muslims and making clear this sentiment was already ubiquitous before 9/11 across the political spectrum, Sniderman and Hagendoorn fill an important gap. One of the most valuable aspects of their meticulous study is the part about fear of Dutch non-Muslims related to intolerance of minorities. This we often hear, but the authors go deeper by arguing that we should find out who feels threatened and by what? Two perceived threats matter: to economic self-interest and to cultural identity. The latter more likely induces intolerant reactions than the former. One of the striking results is that even those who do not agree that Dutch culture is threatened react as strongly to problems of cultural integration as those who are in agreement (p. 99). According to Sniderman and Hagendoorn the best predictor of prejudice towards minorities is the importance people attach to the value of conformity (p. 114). They make clear how people tend to yield to Cont Islam (2008) 2:151–154 DOI 10.1007/s11562-008-0039-x

When ways of life collide: Multiculturalism and its discontents in the Netherlands

Folk devils and moral panics

Condemned to Repeat? The Paradox of Humanitarian Action

When the internal borders of the Schengen area were no longer supposed to be enforced, concerns about an influx of irregular migrants and an increase in cross-border crime in the Netherlands led to the instalment of the Mobile Security Monitor (MSM), a form of migration policing in the border areas with Belgium and Germany. Since its instalment in 1994 this instrument has developed from an instrument aimed at migration control to an instrument that is aimed at both migration control and crime control. Based on extensive observational study and focus group interviews with officers, this paper examines the reasoning behind and the outcomes of discretionary decisions of officers carrying out the MSM. It shows how officers’ individual street-level decisions are fundamentally shaped by a combination of legal and organisational ambiguity regarding the official aim of the MSM and the emergence of a political and public discourse in which certain ethnic and immigrant groups are increasingly framed as ‘dan...

/pdf/cr-immigrant-framing-in-border-areas-decision-making-3r8ityjo7u.pdf

(Cr)immigrant framing in border areas: decision-making processes of Dutch border police officers

In this article we examine whether the proposal to criminalize illegal stay in the Netherlands was preceded by increased negative media attention for unauthorized immigrants. Using a corpus linguistics approach, we carried out a quantitative discourse analysis of all newspaper articles on unauthorized migrants over a period of 15 years. Our results show that the amount of media coverage actually strongly decreased in the years before the proposal, and this coverage was moreover increasingly less negative. This study thus nuances the somewhat popular belief that unauthorized migrants are increasingly portrayed in negative ways and shows that the framing of migrants as criminals is a more diffuse process in which the media seem to follow rather than fuel politics and policy.

/pdf/framing-migration-and-the-process-of-crimmigration-a-49r7uuajhj.pdf

Framing migration and the process of crimmigration: A systematic analysis of the media representation of unauthorized immigrants in the Netherlands.

Framing Migration and the Process of Crimmigration: A Systematic Analysis of the Media Representation of Unauthorized Immigrants in the Netherlands

In the wake of the refugee crisis and the global war on terrorism, many European countries are revising their border control strategies. Despite having signed the Schengen Agreement, as a result of which all forms of internal border control within a large section of Europe have been abolished, many countries are exploring the legal possibilities to monitor cross-border mobility. By focusing on the case of the Netherlands, this article aims to assess one of these possibilities: carrying out so-called Schengen proof spot checks in the 20-km zone around the land borders with Belgium and Germany. In this article we aim to examine whether the Dutch Mobile Security Monitor is exercised justly and fairly. We will assess street-level discretionary decision making by officers of the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee, the Dutch border police organization responsible for carrying out the MSM, through the sociolegal lens of the principle of non-misuse of competence also known as detournement de pouvoir . Although the MSM is meant as an instrument of immigration control, based on our extensive qualitative fieldwork this article will show a different picture.

/pdf/searching-for-illegal-junk-in-the-trunk-underlying-2au7frzf9x.pdf

Searching for “Illegal” Junk in the Trunk : Underlying Intentions of (Cr)Immigration Controls in Schengen’s Internal Border Areas

This article analyses to what extent the Burmese KNU insurgency made use of external support from states, refugees, and diasporas. Based on extensive fieldwork it is concluded that support from neighbouring states and refugees has for years kept the Karen rebellion alive. Western countries perceived forms of resistance to the illegitimate Burmese regime as just and have therefore played a crucial role in the continuation of conflict in Karen State. It is important that policymakers and donors as well as executing organizations continue to reflect critically on the way they exercise their work.

Jelmer Brouwer

Papers

(Cr)immigrant framing in border areas: decision-making processes of Dutch border police officers

Framing migration and the process of crimmigration: A systematic analysis of the media representation of unauthorized immigrants in the Netherlands.

Framing Migration and the Process of Crimmigration: A Systematic Analysis of the Media Representation of Unauthorized Immigrants in the Netherlands

Searching for “Illegal” Junk in the Trunk : Underlying Intentions of (Cr)Immigration Controls in Schengen’s Internal Border Areas

Helping hands: external support for the KNU insurgency in Burma