NCJ Number
202681
Journal
Punishment & Society Volume: 5 Issue: 4 Dated: October 2003 Pages: 433-448
Date Published
October 2003
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This article explores the discourse of criminality that surrounds the lives of documented and undocumented immigrants in Italy and demonstrates an increasing culture of suspicion, hostility, and criminalization of immigrants, specifically African women in Italy.
Abstract
Over the past several years, Europe has moved toward more repressive immigration laws and stricter enforcement measures. The intensifying policing of national borders has created state-sanctioned practices of targeting particular immigrant groups. There are 1.5 million documented immigrants and an estimated 20 percent undocumented immigrants in the European country of Italy, which has among the highest rate of immigrant imprisonment in Southern Europe. Labeling immigrants as criminal is prevalent in Italy. Immigrants in Italy, particularly those from Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and non-immigrant communities such as the Roma must struggle with public perceptions of their communities as criminal. In Italy, the discourse of immigrant criminality resides mainly in the areas of drugs and prostitution. The perceived link between criminal behaviors and nationalities has become so widespread that it has become a part of popular discourse. At the heart of the increased attention to immigrants and crime in Italy is the notion that the law is a national institution that symbolizes the imagined community of the nation and expresses fundamental unity and equality of its citizens. It is no accident that anywhere there is migration, there is an accompanying discourse of criminalization, suspicion, and mistrust. At a time of unprecedented globalization and a booming market for some, there has also been unprecedented incarceration and victimization of immigrants, women, and people of color and the poor. References