While the concepts of “crimmigration” and “immcarceration” have received much scrutiny in the Global North, far less attention has been given to them in the context of South-South migration. This working paper helps address this gap by identifying distinctive aspects of crimmigration control in India and its connections with the governance of migration in wealthier countries. […]
Special Reports & Working PapersThematic reports and scholarly working papers produced wholly or in part by the Global Detention Project (GDP) and written by GDP staff members, associated researchers, or partner organisations.
Thematic reports and scholarly working papers produced wholly or in part by the Global Detention Project (GDP) and written by GDP staff members, associated researchers, or partner organisations.
Harm Reduction in Immigration Detention
This Global Detention Project Special Report systematically compares conditions and operations at detention centres in several European countries to identify practices that may be used to develop “harm reducing” strategies in detention. […]
Critiquing Zones of Exception: Actor-Oriented Approaches Explaining the Rise of Immigration Detention
Immigration policy has catapulted to the forefront of public debate around the world as governments resort to increasingly restrictive measures to block migrants and refugees. While severe border policies are by no means new, this surge in migration control raises questions about the forces driving national policies. This chapter in the new book Immigration Policy in the Age of Punishment advances an actor-oriented analysis that views detention systems as complex organisations that rely on deeply rooted institutional structures to buttress their existence, multiple sources of financing to grow operations, and support from a broad array of social actors. […]
The EU Hotspot Approach: Hotspots and Plethora of Freedom-Restricting Measures
This themed blog series organized by GDP Researcher Izabella Majcher for the Oxford University-based Border Criminologies examines the EU hotspot approach from the perspective of the right to liberty and freedom of movement, highlighting the unclear division of roles and responsibilities between EU agencies and host member states, the blurred line between detention and reception, substandard material conditions, a lack of transparency, and differential treatment based on nationality, among a host of other concerns. […]
Spatial Control: Geographical Approaches to the Study of Immigration Detention – Global Detention Project Working Paper No. 24
This paper surveys research on immigration detention conducted using geographical methods, highlighting how geography’s conceptualization of detention as a form of spatial control offers tools to scholars and activists working to contest this form of immigration control. […]
Immigration Detention through the Lens of International Human Rights: Lessons from South America
Why hasn’t South America witnessed the same growth in immigration detention regimes that has occurred in the rest of the world? This Global Detention Project Working Paper discusses developments across the region through the lens of international human rights standards. […]
Global Detention Project Annual Report 2016
The Global Detention Project completed its second full year as an independent association in 2016. This annual report details the GDP’s key accomplishments and developments during the year. […]
Immigration Detention, the Right to Liberty, and Constitutional Law: Global Detention Project Working Paper No. 22
The right to personal liberty is one of the oldest recognized rights in liberal democracies, which raises fundamental constitutional questions about the use of detention as an immigration measure. However, as this GDP Working Paper highlights, in common law countries, lengthy immigration detention on a large scale has become the norm and is largely regarded as constitutional. […]
When Is Immigration Detention Lawful? The Monitoring Practices of UN Human Rights Mechanisms: Global Detention Project Working Paper No. 21
The authors describe the normative framework governing immigration detention established in core international treaties and discuss how human rights bodies apply this framework when reviewing states’ policies and practices. Their assessment of the impact and implementation of fundamental norms reveals gaps in the international protection regime and highlights how states’ responses to this regime have shaped contemporary immigration detention systems. […]
Obstacles to Reforming Family Detention in the United States: Global Detention Project Working Paper No. 20
The prospect of ending the detention of immigrant families in the US appears more remote than ever as the new president begins implementing his restrictive immigration agenda. This paper, authored by the former director of ICE’s Office of Detention Policy and Planning, provides an inside look at the failure of the Obama administration to roll back family detention and urges renewed calls for reforms in the face of President Trump’s promised crackdown. […]
