In this reflective chapter, we examine the structural biases and empirical challenges underlying human trafficking ‘indicators’ (especially problem, risk and performance indicators) that are... Show moreIn this reflective chapter, we examine the structural biases and empirical challenges underlying human trafficking ‘indicators’ (especially problem, risk and performance indicators) that are routinely used to describe and measure human trafficking, assess risk, identify abuses, evaluate responses, and encourage accountability. While frequently used, such indicators can give an undue illusion of objectivity and reliability when they are neither neutral nor unskewed. In fact, numerous factors affect which elements are privileged as ‘indicators’ and which are obscured. We therefore examine here the selectivity, politics, racialized and gendered concerns that relate to the production and use of human trafficking indicators. Since human trafficking is a complex, highly-contested, and multi-faceted practice, it is not easily reduced to the crude generalizations upon which many indicators rest. We explore how the uncritical use of indicators can both contribute to stereotypical and unachievable ideals of victimhood and engender undue criminalization or withholding of victim support. In doing so, we disentangle some paradoxes around who is deemed ‘vulnerable’, ‘at risk’, ‘worthy of support’ and requiring ‘protection’. We highlight the – routinely overlooked – weak empirical basis and other limitations of many commonplace ‘indicators’ and challenges in building empirically-stronger and more robust indicators. The chapter concludes with overall implications of these critical reflections for policy, interventions, and research. Show less
Those in the most criminally active age groups are facing particular difficulties in entering the labour market and accumulating stable work experiences. This study uses a large representative... Show moreThose in the most criminally active age groups are facing particular difficulties in entering the labour market and accumulating stable work experiences. This study uses a large representative sample of Finnish adolescents to examine how different labour market statuses are associated with crime. Both for men and women, within-individual variation in employment is inversely linked to all crime measures considered, albeit to a different extent. In addition, qualitatively different categories of non-employment (e.g., non-participation without legitimate reason, studying, being on parental leave) are distinctly associated with crime. The findings underscore the importance of a detailed conceptualization of labour market status in research that aligns with the changed nature of employment and approximates the actual labour market experiences of young adults. Show less
When thinking about criminality, it is generally not a female protagonist that first comes to mind – especially not in early modern Italy, where women’s scope of action is commonly portrayed as... Show moreWhen thinking about criminality, it is generally not a female protagonist that first comes to mind – especially not in early modern Italy, where women’s scope of action is commonly portrayed as heavily restricted. This dissertation examines the influence of gender on recorded crime in the city of Bologna, and reveals two distinct features: the prominence of violence among recorded crime, and a consistently low share of formally investigated female offenders. Rather than seeking to explain this crime pattern through the stereotypical notion of women’s restricted agency alone, this dissertation distinguishes three other important mechanisms for cities like Bologna: the tendency to institutionalise rather than criminalise ‘problematic women’, judicial paternalism, and, importantly, the pervasive culture of peace-making. While all of these mechanisms withdrew women from formal criminal prosecutions, a close-reading of hundreds of complaints alongside the formal investigations allows us to uncover women’s far more prominent roles in crime. Not only were women’s shares among offenders much higher than the formal investigations alone would suggest, the fact that female victims of crime actively and strategically employed the criminal court to their own ends speaks to the notion that women’s scope of action was far more significant than was commonly assumed. Show less
This thesis examines gender differences in recorded criminality in early modern Frankfurt and the way that these differences were shaped by the local context. For a long time it was considered that... Show moreThis thesis examines gender differences in recorded criminality in early modern Frankfurt and the way that these differences were shaped by the local context. For a long time it was considered that the criminality of women is a marginal phenomenon and that this was invariable over time and place. Historical studies, however, have demonstrated that women played a much more prominent role in recorded crime in the early modern period, and could even make up half of all defendants in specific locations. At the same time, there were also large regional differences. Until now, historians focused only little on the differences, and instead looked for general explanations for female deviance in this period. This thesis studies the structural impact of the local context on women’s offending and their prosecution. It shows that the pattern in Frankfurt was both similar and different to that of other European cities. Strong informal control within the household, which is normally associated with close-knit communities in the countryside, played an important role in the urban community of Frankfurt and influenced prosecution patterns. Owing to the reliance on household control, cities like Frankfurt am Main knew a distinct type of urban female offender. Show less
This dissertation project focuses on forced re-education policies for juvenile delinquents in the Netherlands Indies (now Indonesia) and uses this topic to show the interaction between a ... Show moreThis dissertation project focuses on forced re-education policies for juvenile delinquents in the Netherlands Indies (now Indonesia) and uses this topic to show the interaction between a 'modernizing' Dutch colonial state and the growth of a colonial civil society, between approximately 1872 and 1942. It uncovers specific government and private initiatives – like state re-education institutes, orphanages, and schools – that attempted to turn young delinquents of Indonesian and (Indo-)European heritage into 'proper' Dutch colonial subjects and citizens. The dissertation shows that a colonial civil society - both European and indigenous - was rapidly developing in the twentieth century and had an undeniable influence on state policies. The book also seeks to understand and reveal the influence of racialized government and private reform policies on the lives of the children that were deemed 'delinquent', their parents and communities.This dissertation focuses on forced re-education policies for juvenile delinquents in the Netherlands Indies (now Indonesia) and uses this topic to show the interaction between a 'modernizing' Dutch colonial state and the growth of a 'colonial civil society', between approximately 1872 and 1945. It explains the development of specific government and private initiatives like state re-education institutes, orphanages, and schools that attempted to turn young delinquents of Indonesian and (Indo-)European heritage into 'proper' Dutch colonial subjects and citizens. The dissertation shows that a colonial civil society was rapidly developing in the twentieth century and had an undeniable influence on state policies. The dissertation reveals the impact of racialized government and private reform policies on the lives of the children that were deemed 'delinquent', their parents and communities. Show less
