Migrant Women

The Criminalisation of Migrant Women: a Feminist Perspective

Loraine Gelsthorpe, from the University of Cambridge, made a contribution to the 2012 Annual Conference of the European Society of Criminology, in the category “Criminal Justice and Human Rights,” under the title “The Criminalisation of Migrant Women: a Feminist Perspective”. Here is the abstract: This paper will describe recent research on the criminalization of migrant women in England and Wales. The work of the International Organisation for Migration and other similar NGOs means that there is now much greater awareness of international people trafficking and exploitation of women by smugglers or agents of people seeking to leave their country to seek work or asylum. Within the UK, public knowledge has been influenced by the UK Trafficking Centre which was set up in 2006. However, there has been little recognition of the numbers of potential victims in custody on criminal charges, nor prison based research which provides evidence of how these individuals have been managed within the criminal justice system and United Kingdom Border Agency (UKBA). The paper will present key findings from my recent research in this area and pose some important questions about criminal justice system responses and the ‘othering’ of migrant women.[rtbs name=”criminology”]

Resources

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Further Reading

• “The Criminalisation of Migrant Women: a Feminist Perspective”, by Loraine Gelsthorpe (Proceedings)