Global crimes 9

Global Crimes (Border Criminology)

• The presentation focuses on global crimes, particularly border criminology, from a perspective of Italian migration control.
• Italy acts as a key entry point and transit country for Central Mediterranean migration to Northern and Central Europe.

Italy's Geopolitical Significance and Migration Control Mechanisms

• Italy's border control policies are multifaceted and complex, not solely focused on deportations.
• Italy's migration control is perceived as lenient, with low deportation rates.
• Migration control in Italy includes both formal and informal practices.

Key Concepts in Border Control

• Bordered Penalty: Management of migrants through various control mechanisms, sometimes punitive but not necessarily focused on deportation.
• Continuum of Confinement: Multiple overlapping forms of detention, encompassing pre-removal centers, hotspots, emergency reception centres, and prisons.
• Banoptical: A surveillance approach targeting specific migrant groups for exclusion and control, focusing on practices like deportation and detention.

Italy as a Migration Gateway

• Geographical Context: Italy's long coastline and proximity to politically unstable regions influence migration patterns.
• Migration Trends: Shifts in migration patterns are influenced by political crises in regions like North Africa and the Balkans and international treaties.

Key Statistics on Sea Arrivals in Italy

• Sea arrivals to Italy fluctuate significantly over time, impacted by various events (e.g., treaties, operations, crises).
• Data shows trends and spikes related to significant political events and operations.

Political Instrumentalization of Migration

• Migration is frequently used as a political tool to gain electoral support.
• Narratives surrounding migrants shift, changing from depicting them as irregular migrants to asylum seekers or welfare exploiters, or even as potential terrorists.
• The approach to migration is often framed as an 'Emergency', treating it as a temporary crisis rather than a structural challenge, leading to stricter border controls and heavier reliance on detention centers.

Migration Control Mechanisms

• Italy has extremely low deportation rates, approximately 0.6% in 2022.
• Deportation gaps and targeted nationalities are observed in the data.
• Confinement practices in Italy involve continuous cycles of containment at pre-removal centers, hotspots, and detention facilities.

Structure of Confinement in Italy

• Italy employs a three-tier facility system:
  • Pre-Removal Detention Centers (CPRs) to hold undocumented migrants until deportation.
  • Hotspots for screening with de facto detention conditions
  • Emergency Reception Centres (CAS) for temporary accommodation for asylum seekers
• Pre-removal detention centers have varying efficiencies, generally less than 50% deportation rate. Problems exist regarding inconsistent legal practices, site-specific inefficiencies, and varying effectiveness based on location and detained nationality. CPR sites are mapped.

Hotspots and Hybrid Detention

• Hotspots were introduced by the 2015 EU Agenda on Migration for screening migrants.
• De facto detention was in place sometimes despite formal non-detention status.
• Legal and human rights issues are present, such as rulings against the legal basis for de facto detention (from the ECtHR in March 2023 and the Court of Justice of the European Union in October 2023.)

Number of Migrants Transiting Italy (2016-2021)

• Data is provided about the number of migrants transiting through CPRs and hotspots, showing trends over time.

Hotspots and Hybrid Detention

• Migrants are categorized arbitrarily, often as "economic" or "asylum seekers."
• Hybrid detention forms proliferate across sites and countries.
• Economic migrants face potential deportation, asylum seekers face emergency reception centres.

Emergency Reception Centres

• These centres, created in 2011 and expanded in 2015, were managed by private entities, relying on public tenders.
• Staffing levels and essential services are often lacking, despite their importance in hosting migrant arrivals at hotspots and CPRs.

The Role of Prisons in Border Penalty

• A significant portion of migrants incarcerated in Italy are non-national citizens and are sometimes detained for minor offenses.
• Prisons are part of a continuum of confinement, transferring migrants from prisons to pre-removal centers.
• Confinement can be a cyclical process without successful resolution.

Impact of Confinement Practices on Migrants

• Confinement practices can disempower migrants and limit their autonomy due to circumstances under which they are detained.
• Social exclusion occurs with precarious living conditions.
• Inclusivity of migrants can be limited due to subordinate labor market conditions.

Key Findings and Analysis

• Italian Border Control does not prioritize deportation, instead aiming to control migrant populations.
• The system is utilized for economic needs and political leverage.
• Italy's strategic geopolitical positioning plays a role.

Conclusions

• The Italian migration system is dual in nature, simultaneously punitive and integrative.
• Border penalty serves as a social control mechanism.
• Implications for policy and human rights highlight the need for transparency and humane treatment, and raise questions regarding the effectiveness and morality of ongoing practices.

This quiz explores the complex issues surrounding global crimes with a specific focus on border criminology in the context of Italian migration control. Participants will learn about Italy's significant role in the migration landscape, including its control mechanisms, policies, and key concepts such as bordered penalty and continuum of confinement.