Border Criminologies: 2014 in Review

2014 was a busy year at Border Criminologies both on the website and for its international network of academic researchers and students. In March, we held a two-day seminar in Oxford on foreign national prisoners and everyday life in immigration detention. While papers from the former will be appearing later this year in a special issue of Criminology & Criminal Justice, lectures from both events are already available on the Border Criminologies iTunes account. We also hosted a number of speakers including Jennifer Chacon, Catherine Dauvergne, Michelle Foster, and Tings Chak, who discussed their research on the convergence of criminal and migration law in the US, the eroding protections of refugees, and the architectural design of immigration detention centres. Their talks are also all available on Border Criminologies iTunes account

The Border Criminologies network currently includes 25 academic researchers, eight postgraduate research students along with an international advisory group whose fourteen members represent academic, government, and non-government sectors. During 2014 members produced a host of monographs, journal articles and book chapters. They also gave presentations at a range of international events and participated in social media, writing regular blog posts across a number of websites. Examples of their publications can be found on the Research Publications page, while accounts of some of their research activity can be found on the Current Research page.

As part of the Leverhulme International Network on External Border Control, Border Criminologies established the first open access journal on the intersections between criminal justice and migration control. The SSRN Criminal Justice, Borders & Citizenship Research Paper Series currently includes over eighty papers, freely available to download.

In 2014 we published over 110 blog entries on a variety of topics related to border control: immigration detention, irregular migration, foreign national prisoners, deaths at the border. Our website statistics indicate that the blog was viewed approximately 60,000 times in 2014. Blog content is now syndicated by Newstex, a web based business which feeds content to online users.

Looking ahead

For 2015, we will continue to work on the Border Criminologies website adding new content, modes and means of interacting. Most immediately, in January 2015, we will launch a research forum, to encourage discussion and debate about applied research. Participants will need to sign up to access the forum. If you are interested, please email Andriani Fili. We will also start running themed weeks, inviting blog entries on specific topics, to generate debate on particular issues. If you have an idea for particular issues, again, please email Andriani Fili.

In 2014 Mary Bosworth created an Immigration Detention Archive. In the first instance items in this collection will be digitized and displayed on the Border Criminologies website. The first range of items will be appearing soon. If you would like to contribute to the archive, please email Mary.

Finally, once again this year we will be hosting a variety of speakers, starting with Alison Mountz in January discussing her international research on immigration detention. In June, we will also hold the first two Leverhulme international network seminars, discussing external European border control in Oslo, and immigration detention in Oxford. Plans are currently underway for a two-day symposium on race, criminal justice and border control, provisionally scheduled for the autumn. The papers will appear in an edited volume and the lectures will be uploaded to our iTunes account.

Border Criminologies continues to experiment with new methods and modes of communication, reaching out to colleagues around the world. Alongside these web-based interactions, network members remain active in research and publications in more traditional academic arenas as well. As we move forward, we welcome comments, suggestions, and participation in these endeavours.

We would like to thank everyone who contributed to Border Criminologies in 2014 and those of you who follow the blog and Border Criminologies through social media. We wish you a happy new year!

Mary, Ines, Andriani and Sarah

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