Department of Criminology, Criminal Law and Social Law

Youth justice discourses on young people with migration background

Research Period

1 October 2010 – 30 September 2016

Financing

Ghent university (academic assistant's mandate)

Researcher

Olga PETINTSEVA

Key Words

Youth justice, institutional discourse, migration, Roma, Caucasus, discriminatory practices

Abstract

This dissertation addressed institutional discourse production with regard to young people with a migration background, in the context of youth justice. In the practice of this institutional sphere, being ‘new,’ ethnicity, migration, culture, and legal positions are influential for how cases are understood and proceeded with. Youth justice is a fascinating context for such a study, for it is characterised by a large discretionary space, the ‘best interests’ doctrine and constant negotiations between protecting, responsibilising and sanctioning. All of this makes this practice more social (i.e. driven by human understandings), rather than a mere mechanical application of laws.               

The research delves into how the seemingly unrelated and rarely problematised juxtaposition of youth justice–migration is practiced and articulated by youth justice practitioners. These understandings often rest on assumptions about class, (ethnic) culture, ‘good’ behaviour and morality, the adolescent’s role within the family, family structures, ‘meaningful’ time expenditure, sedentary life style, etc.

Two case studies are focused upon: youth born in the Northern Caucasus and Slovak and Czech Roma (selecting cases that were referred to the youth judge in two legal departments in Belgium). For these cases, the professionals’ folk theorisations of the causes and modalities of delinquent behaviour; the assessments of a young person’s responsibility and maturity; her/his milieu (mainly in terms of family and school situation) and the role of the legal (residence) status are discussed.

Method

This empirical research is based on a critical discursive (problematisation) analysis (Bacchi, 2009) of documents in youth court case files (55 court cases) and youth justice professionals’ oral narratives (obtained through 41 open-ended interviews with magistrates, social workers, intercultural mediators, various professionals working in Community institutions and practitioners involved in the execution of alternative measures).

Results

The results show that 'migrationised,' 'ethnicisised' and 'culturalised' positioning of young people is prominent and that it heavilly relies on protection discourse (albeit involving very different definitions of ‘protection’). Moreover, understandings of culture, ethnicity and migration are often essentialised (particularly for Roma youth, who are positioned quite differently from Caucasian youngsters), sanitised, and masked by practical reasoning. Such problematisations are to some extent based on experiences encountered in practice, but they also rely on popular imagery and expectations (i.e. specific stories, examples, faces vs. generalisations and convictions).      

In conclusion, the discussion is raised on whether such understandings of the ‘other’ are necessarily discriminatory. More broadly, this research speaks to discussions about interactions and expectations in institutional contexts and common sense discriminatory or otherwise harmful practices therein. Additionally, the report opens a debate on understandings of ‘protection’ and on the need for targeted approaches to migrant youth in the judicial context.

Valorisation

  • PETINTSEVA, O. (2018). Youth justice and migration : discursive harms. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • PETINTSEVA, O. (2017). Thou shall not ask leading questions! Constraints and benefits of a discussion model in elite interviews. Paper presented as part of the 'Symposium on interviewing 'elites' in social sciences' at the 1st European Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, Leuven (Belgium), 7-9 February 2017.
  • PETINTSEVA, O. (forthcoming). How school discourses are infused and circulated throughout juvenile justice trajectories: the case of Roma youth. Youth Justice.
  • PETINTSEVA, O. (2016). Problematisations and ‘specialized’ initiatives in youth justice: building expertise or denying protection? Presented at the Common Study Programme in Critical Criminology and Criminal Justice conference: ‘Preparing critical criminology for the next 20 years’. Porto (4-6/5/2016).
  • PETINTSEVA, O. (2016). The constitutive nature of discourses of youth judges and the social services: zooming in on positioning of young migrants in Belgian youth justice. Presented at the GERN (Le groupement européen de recherches sur les normativités) interlabo: ‘Moral essentials: lives under scrutiny in youth justice files / La moralité d’abord: des trajectoires de vie à travers les dossiers de la justice des mineurs’. Parijs (3/6/2016).
  • PETINTSEVA, O. (2016). Institutionele discoursen van de jeugdbescherming. In T. Decorte & D. Zaitch (Ed.), Kwalitatieve methoden en technieken in de criminologie (3de ed.) (pp. 331-332). Leuven: Acco. 
  • PETINTSEVA, O. (2015). Approaching new migration through Elias’ “established” and “outsiders” lens. Human Figurations, 4(3).
  • PETINTSEVA, O. (2015). Studying discriminatory practices in youth justice decision-making. In J. Christiaens (Ed.), It’s for your own good : a century of juvenile justice practices (pp. 175–193). Brussel: VUB Press.
  • PETINTSEVA, O. (2015). When youth justice and migration intersect: 'Specialized' initiatives: building expertise or internal borders? Presented at the Common Study Programme in Critical Criminology and Criminal Justice conference: ‘Borders and the European Solidarity Project.’ Rotterdam (2-4/12/2015).
  • PETINTSEVA, O. (2015). Positioning, problematizing activities and their effects in the practice of youth justice with regard to young migrants. Presented at the American Society of Criminology conference: ‘The Politics of Crime & Justice.’ Washington (17-20/11/2015).
  • PETINTSEVA, O. (2015). The ‘existence’ of Roma in youth justice discourses. Presented at the International Cultural Criminology Conference: 'The Other.’ Amsterdam (25-25/6/2015).
  • PETINTSEVA, O. (2014). De “taboes” binnen criminologie: het academisch discours m.b.t. etniciteit/migratie en criminaliteit. In L. Pauwels & G. Vermeulen (Eds.), Update in de Criminologie VII : Actuele ontwikkelingen inzake EU-justitiebeleid, cannabisbeleid, misdaad en straf, jongeren en jeugdzorg, internationale vrede, veiligheid en gerechtigheid, gewelddadig extermisme & private veiligheid en zelfregulering (pp. 192–220). Antwerpen: Maklu.
  • PETINTSEVA, O. (2014). De ‘taboes’ binnen criminologie: Het academisch discours m.b.t. etniciteit/migratie en criminaliteit. Presentatie tijdens de vormingen Update in de Criminologie VII: ‘Actuele ontwikkelingen inzake EU-justitiebeleid, cannabisbeleid, misdaad en straf, jongeren en jeugdzorg, internationale vrede, veiligheid en gerechtigheid, gewelddadig extremisme & private veiligheid en zelfregulering.’ Gent (27/2/2014).
  • PETINTSEVA, O. (2014). Letters to the judge. Self-positioning, voices and adaptation in discourses of young migrants listed as suspects in delinquency cases. Presented at the Common Study Programme in Critical Criminology and Criminal Justice conference: ‘What is crime? Who is the criminal?.’ Corinth (29-31/10/2014).
  • PETINTSEVA, O. (2014). On criminological ‘taboos’: the academic discourse on migration and crime. Presented at the National Deviancy Conference: ‘Critical Criminology and Post-Crash Capitalism.’ Teesside (26-27/6/2014).
  • PETINTSEVA, O. (2014). On criminological 'taboos': the academic discourse on migration and crime. Presented at the Common Study Programme in Critical Criminology and Criminal Justice conference: ‘Pre-Crime, Security and Surveillance.’ London (14-16/4/2014).
  • PETINTSEVA, O. (2013). What's new? On the incorporation of the concepts 'established' and 'outsiders' as a conceptual lens in understanding new migration. Presented at the annual conference of the European Group for the Study of Deviance and Social Control: ‘Critical Criminology in a Changing World: Tradition and Innovation.’ Oslo (29/8-1/9/2013).
  • PETINTSEVA, O. (2013). New’ immigrants in juvenile justice. On the Incorporation of ‘established’ and ‘outsiders’ as a conceptual lens. Presented at the Common Study Programme in Critical Criminology and Criminal Justice conference: ‘Cultural and Global Criminology.’ Kent (28/4-1/5/2013).
  • PETINTSEVA, O. (2013). Bronnen van differentiële justitiële bejegening in MOF zaken met ‘nieuwe’ immigranten als (vermeende) dader. Presentatie tijdens het Vierde Criminologisch Forum Vlaamse Vereniging voor Criminologie (VVC): ‘Wetenschapsfraude: criminologische verklaringen en reacties.’ Gent (8/2/2013).
  • PETINTSEVA, O. (2012). The shifting focus and assumptions in research on ethnic and racial disparity in prosecution and judicial reactions within juvenile justice. Presented at the annual meeting of the European Society of Criminology: ‘Criminology in the 21st Century: A Necessary Balance between Freedom and Security.’ Bilbao (12-15/9/2012).
  • PETINTSEVA, O. (2012). New migration, new crime, new function? An exploration of immigration and integration policy in Belgium. Presented at the Common Study Programme in Critical Criminology and Criminal Justice conference: ‘Epistemology & Methodology as Tools for a Critical Analysis.’ Porto (1-3/5/2012).
  • PETINTSEVA, O. (2012). ‘New’ immigrants in Juvenile Justice. The case of youth from the Northern Caucasus in Belgium. Presentatie tijdens Master class (Faculteit Rechtsgeleerdheid). Gent (19/12/2012).
  • PETINTSEVA, O. (2012). Dispariteit in justitiële beslissingen in MOF zaken van ‘nieuwe’ immigranten. Presentatie tijdens de seminarie ‘It’s for your own good. A century of juvenile justice practices in Belgium: Beslissingspraktijken binnen het jeugdrecht / Les pratiques décisionnelles au sein de la justice des mineurs’. Louvain-la-Neuve (16/11/2012).