The Criminalisation of Irregular Migration in Europe: Globalisation, Deterrence, and Vicious Cycles

ISBN-13: 9783030903497 / Angielski / Miękka / 2023 / 333 str.

Matilde Rosina

Opis

This book explores the criminalisation of irregular migration in Europe. In particular, it investigates the meaning, purpose, and consequences of criminalising unauthorised entry and stay. From a theoretical perspective, the book adds to the debate on the persistence of irregular migration, despite governments’ attempts at deterring it, by taking an interdisciplinary approach that draws from international political economy and criminology. Using Italy and France as case studies, and relying on previously unreleased data and interviews, it argues that criminalisation has no effect on migratory flows, and that this is due to factors including the latter’s structural determinants and the likely creation of substitution effects. Furthermore, criminalisation is found to lead to adverse consequences, including by contributing to vicious cycles of irregularity and insecurity. 

Recenzje

"This book Rosina uses Italy and France as case studies to investigate the meaning, purpose, practice and consequences of criminalising unauthorised entry and stay. The book provides a compelling case that the criminalisation of irregular migration does not have a sizeable deterrent effect and that in the case of Italy and France the penalties are rarely used. ... The author uses exclusively descriptive statistics to describe trends in the data." (Akira Soto-Nishimura, European Journal of Migration and Law, Vol. 25 (3), August, 2023)

Spis treści

Chapter 1. Introduction

1. Introduction 

2. Key questions and implications of the research

3. Methodological notes

4. Plan of the book

Chapter 2. Globalisation and irregular migration

1. Introduction

2. The IPE of irregular migration: Theoretical interpretations

a. The realist approach

b. The neoliberal institutionalist approach

c. The transnationalist approach

3. Migration policies and their ‘gaps’

4. Controlling migration through deterrence? 

5. Conclusion

Chapter 3. Deterrence in international migration: Between IPE and criminology

1. Introduction

2. The functioning of deterrence

a. Legal costs: Certainty and severity

b. Bounded rationality and perceptions

c. Social costs: Stigmatisation and social control

3. The pitfalls of deterrence 

a. Do costs outweigh benefits? The lack of positive incentives

b. Availability of alternatives

c. Multiple audiences: The political dimension

d. Information and unconscious biases

4. Conclusion

Chapter 4. Criminalising migration in Europe

1. Introduction

2. Theoretical aspects: The meaning and purpose of criminalisation 

3. Criminalisation as securitisation?

4. Between the EU and the national dimension

5. Conclusion

Chapter 5. Italy: From tough rhetoric to counter-productive consequences

1. Introduction

2. From rhetoric to paper: Discursive gaps

3. From paper to enforcement: Implementation gaps

4. From enforcement to overall outcomes: Efficacy gaps

a. Efficacy: Easing expulsions, and deterring arrivals?

b. Efficiency: How much does criminalisation cost?

c. Coherence: Is criminalisation internally and externally consistent?

d. Sustainability: Can criminalisation be maintained in the long term?

e. Utility: Who benefits from criminalisation?

5. Conclusion

Chapter 6. France: Between instrumentalization, courts, and marginalisation

1. Introduction

2. Rhetoric and instrumentalization

3. Implementation

4. Effectiveness: Beyond goals and outcomes 

a. (In)efficacy

b. (In)efficiency: The duplication of processes and costs

c. (In)coherence: The contradictory nature of sanctions, and other problems

d. (Un)sustainability: The trade-off between certainty and efficiency

e. (Political) utility

5. Conclusion

Chapter 7. The effects and counter-effects of criminalisation: On skinny balloons and vicious cycles

1. Introduction

2. Comparing and contrasting criminalisation in Italy and France

3. Deterrence pitfalls and criminalisation 

a. Pitfall 1: Can costs outweigh benefits?

b. Pitfall 2: Does criminalisation deter, or simply divert? On alternatives and skinny balloons

c. Pitfall 3: The politicisation of migration and of its criminalisation

d. Pitfall 4: The role of information

4. Vicious cycles of insecurity

5. Criminalisation and the purpose of punishment

6. Conclusion

Chapter 8. Conclusion 

1. Introduction

2. The criminalisation of irregular migration: Between policy gaps and vicious cycles

3. Criminalisation, migration and globalisation: Theoretical observations

4. Concluding remarks

 

O autorze

Matilde Rosina is Fellow in International Migration at the European Institute of the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK. Her research focuses on irregular migration, with specific reference to the European context. Matilde obtained her award-winning PhD in International Political Economy from King’s College London, having received scholarships from the Luigi Einaudi Foundation and the Jean Monnet Foundation for Europe. Before joining LSE, Matilde lectured at City, University of London, and at Fordham University.

Blurb

"EU migration policy has generally followed a logic of deterrence and criminalization. Irregular migrants to all but two EU countries are subject to significant criminal penalties, including incarceration. Matilde Rosina shows convincingly in this pathbreaking and carefully documented analysis of Italian and French migration policies that criminalization imposes cruelty and hardship on migrants but does not reduce migration. Establishing increased legal pathways would not only prevent unnecessary suffering for migrants but also benefit receiving countries." 

— Alan Cafruny, Henry Platt Bristol Professor of International Relations, Hamilton College, USA

This book explores the criminalisation of irregular migration in Europe. In particular, it investigates the meaning, purpose, and consequences of criminalising unauthorised entry and stay. From a theoretical perspective, the book adds to the debate on the persistence of irregular migration, despite governments’ attempts at deterring it, by taking an interdisciplinary approach that draws from international political economy and criminology. Using Italy and France as case studies, and relying on previously unreleased data and interviews, it argues that criminalisation has no effect on migratory flows, and that this is due to factors including the latter’s structural determinants and the likely creation of substitution effects. Furthermore, criminalisation is found to lead to adverse consequences, including by contributing to vicious cycles of irregularity and insecurity. 

Matilde Rosina is Fellow in International Migration at the European Institute of the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK. Her research focuses on irregular migration, with specific reference to the European context. Matilde obtained her award-winning PhD in International Political Economy from King’s College London, having received scholarships from the Luigi Einaudi Foundation and the Jean Monnet Foundation for Europe. Before joining LSE, Matilde lectured at City, University of London, and at Fordham University.