1,720,991 research outputs found
Zemiology and Human Trafficking
No full textFollowing the rise of the zemiological movement, the concept of social harm has attracted a great deal of scholarly attention. Using this perspective, a number of scholars have sought to remove the constraining brackets surrounding criminological investigation in order to broaden its legitimate parameters of study and incorporate a wider range of un-criminalized and hidden harms. This book expands the literature on social harm by applying the concept of zemia to human trafficking investigations in Europe, North America, and Africa.This book draws attention not only to various structurally imbedded harms, but also to the wider consequences of such harms. Drawing on a range of international legal cases on trafficking, this book offers a new direction in criminological and zemiological thinking and a reimagining of criminal justice responses to harm
Trafficking and the “Victim Industry” complex
No full textThe antithesis between a criminalization and a human rights approach in the context of transnational trafficking in women has been a highly contested issue. On the one hand, it is argued that a criminalization approach would be better because security and border control measures will be fortified. On the other hand, it is maintained that a human rights approach would bring more effective results, as this will mobilize a more holistic solution, bringing together prevention, prosecution, protection of victims, and partnerships for delivering gendered victims’ services. In the field of victims’ services, galloping US-influenced developments have mobilized victim-specific strategies and institutionalized a “victim industry” vocabulary: “reflection period,” “screening process,” “cooperation in exchange for protection,” “happy trafficking,” “renew boutique,” etc. Underlying the construction of this vocabulary is the evolving notion of a phantom threat posed by organized crime. This chapter reanimates Hobbs’ suggestion that, in postindustrial societies, market forces overwhelmingly shape agency. Extending this to “sex trafficking,” mediated through market engagement, this emerging victim industry is an exemplary case of domain expansion. Revisiting the claims made under the initial antithesis between criminalization and human rights, the recent metamorphosis of gendered victims’ services due to financialization, neoliberalization, and debt governance is explored
Transversal harm and zemiology: reconsidering green criminology and mineral extractivism in Cerro de Pasco, Peru
No full textGreen criminology has been advancing a focus on environmental crimes and harms. Extending this inquiry into
avoidable and avertable environmental harms is a key function of both green criminology and zemiology. However,
while the former seeks to expand regulatory frameworks, the latter contains within it the potential for a more holistic
reimagining of the social world. Based on a methodology that combines qualitative methods (key informant
interviews), a zemiological analysis, and the political ecology of Felix Guattari, we present a reconceptualization of
harm inflicted by mineral extractivism in Peru’s Cerro de Pasco. The analysis utilizes the concept of transversal harm,
which allows us to move beyond the criminal and civil damage of corporate crime and negligence and to capture the
collective and continuous impact of mineral extractivism. A discussion of transversal harm as a potential new avenue
for expanding the conceptual boundaries of studying environmental harm concludes the article
Queer utopias and queer criminology
Full text linkDrawing on the concept of utopia to reflect upon the emerging field of queer criminology and José Esteban Muñoz’s account of queer theory as essentially utopian, we draw two conclusions. First, we suggest that queer criminology is currently limited by tinkering at the edges with piecemeal reforms instead of focussing on radical, wholesale changes, and second, that queer theory contains within it the potential for a more holistic reimagining of the social world. In doing so, we question rigid cis/trans binaries and reject accounts of trans/gender that ignore the role of structural harm. We draw on Ernst Bloch’s concepts of ‘abstract’ and ‘concrete’ utopia to suggest that while queer criminology has succeeded in producing largely ‘abstract’ utopias, it struggles in translating these into ‘concrete’ ones. By introducing examples of trans literary utopias as potential transformative cultural forms, however, we consider the potential of queer theory for realising ‘concrete’ utopia through a more radical rethinking of the social world
How the last man to see Sylvia Plath alive was punished for his quiet homosexuality
No full textNearly 50 years ago, in July 1967, the government voted to partly decriminalise homosexuality for men over 21-years-old. The illegality of homosexuality had ruined countless lives and careers – even of those who were not actually convicted of a crime.
One of those who fell foul of the law two decades earlier was the distinguished art historian and curator of Leicester Art Gallery, Trevor Thomas. His story is indicative of how others were treated and cautionary of how current injustices inflict harm.
Thomas and another man were arrested in 1947 for allegedly "looking at each other" in a local public lavatory. He was not actually convicted of any offence, though he was “bound over” to keep the peace for 12 months. But he lost his job.
Thomas was a London neighbour of the poet Sylvia Plath and the last to see her alive. She borrowed some airmail stamps from him on the eve of her death, but he was not aware of the tragedy until the arrival of the emergency services the following day, as he had himself been overcome by gas fumes
The gold rush in Scotland: mining nuggets of legal consciousness
No full textThis output presents the project's key findings and contains a short guide to regulation of gold mining in Scotland
Cultural Harm: ‘trans fraud’, ‘gender deception’ and zero-sum games
Full text linkIn recent years zemiology has emerged to pose key questions about the ways in which social harm emerges from non-criminalised deleterious acts, from criminalisation processes and from the everyday workings of our socioeconomic systems. This article both explores and contributes to the zemiological perspective by focusing specifically on developing the notion of cultural harm, as one aspect of social harm. Utilising the examples of (i) the Gender Recognition Act 2004, (ii) a case of ‘trans fraud’ and imprisonment, (iii) and three legal cases involving ‘gender deception’, it explores the limitations of zero-sum approaches to recognising harm. In doing so, the article develops a typology of cultural harm that enables us to move beyond current conflicting claims to harm and begin to identify alternatives that better recognise and address all forms of harm, including those imposed by the hegemonic cis-hetero-patriarchal structures
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