Digital technologies have reshaped the boundaries of criminal justice and border control, and the merger of these fields has resulted in technologically mediated practices of 'crimmigration control' on a global level. This book explores the role of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and its Migration Information and Data Analysis System (MIDAS) in shaping these digital crimmigration control practices.
Outsourcing Crimmigration Control: Digital Borders, the IOM, and Biometric Statehood draws on interdisciplinary scholarship to develop a new theoretical framework for understanding the political effects of new surveillance technologies. Examining empirical data gathered through elite interviews, document analysis, and field observations in Abuja, this book reveals how the deployment of MIDAS in Nigeria was underpinned by political and epistemic postcolonial hierarchies between Global North states, the IOM, and Nigerian federal authorities. This technical system resulted in the emergence and expansion of historically unprecedented digital crimmigration control practices in Nigeria, which created new risks to human rights and justice.
Through this in-depth study, Samuel Singler advances the Southernization and decolonization of criminology, as well as the development of more just and equitable digital futures at the border. Outsourcing Crimmigration Control will be a vital read for students and academics in the fields of criminology, law, international relations, and sociology, as well as practitioners and civil society organizations working on border management, international humanitarian efforts, and criminal justice.
This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read on the Oxford Academic platform and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.
Outsourcing Crimmigration Control develops a new theoretical framework for understanding how digital technologies can transform border control and criminal justice practices. Presenting original evidence, this book discusses the potential risks and serious political effects of surveillance technologies, despite their apparent neutrality.
Arvustused
This is a timely examination of how migration control is increasingly shaped by digital technology, outsourced governance and criminal justice logic. ..The empirical heart of the book is a detailed case study of the International Organization for Migration's system, known as the Migration Information and Data Analysis System (MIDAS), used in Nigeria. ..The book is an important reminder that when governance is outsourced to code, the consequences remain profoundly human. * Sally Azarmi, The Law Society Gazette *
PART I. CRIMINAL JUSTICE, BORDER CONTROL, AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES 1:
Introduction: Digital Borders and Social Exclusion 2: Sovereign Power,
Postcolonial Hierarchy, and Global Crimmigration Control 3: Theorizing
Crimmigration Control Technologies: Performativity, Pragmatism, and Humanism
4: From Unease to Critique: Pragmatism as a Research Paradigm PART II. MIDAS
5: MIDAS and the Performative Dimensions of Global Migration Management 6:
'Who is in charge here': Territory, Extraversion, and Local Agency in the
IOM's Capacity-building Practices in Nigeria 7: 'If we don't do it, it's just
not going to happen': Shaping the Digital Futures of Crimmigration Control in
Nigeria 8: A Golden Touch? MIDAS, Biometrics, and the Expansion of
Crimmigration Control 9: Conclusion: Enacting the 'Crimmigrant Other' in the
Global South
Samuel Singler is a Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Essex. His research focuses on the intersection of surveillance technologies, criminal justice, and border control, illuminating how and why digital technologies shape contemporary 'crimmigration' control practices. Singler is an Associate Director of the Border Criminologies network and co-leads its Technology & Digital Futures thematic group. Outside of academia, he has worked together with civil society organizations to reshape digital border surveillance and the deployment of biometric technologies in humanitarian contexts. He holds a DPhil in Criminology and MPhil in International Relations from the University of Oxford.
