An analysis of state crime: negotiating multiple insecurities around the U.S. Mexico Border

Whitburn, Shadi (2016) An analysis of state crime: negotiating multiple insecurities around the U.S. Mexico Border. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

This research looks into forms of state crime taking place around the U.S.-Mexico border. On the Mexican side of the border violent corruption and criminal activities stemming from state actors complicity with drug trafficking organisations has produced widespread violence and human casualty while forcing many to cross the border legally or illegally in fear for their lives. Upon their arrival on the U.S. side of the border, these individuals are treated as criminal suspects. They are held in immigration detention facilities, interrogated and categorised as inadmissible ‘economic migrants’ or ‘drug offenders’ only to be denied asylum status and deported to dangerous and violent zones in Mexico. These individuals have been persecuted and victimised by the state during the 2007-2012 counter narcotic operations on one side of the border while criminalised and punished by a categorizing anti-immigration regime on the other side of the border. This thesis examines this border crisis as injurious actions against border residents have been executed by the states under legal and illegal formats in violation of criminal law and human rights conventions. The ethnographic research uses data to develop a nuanced understanding of individuals’ experiences of state victimisation on both sides of the border. In contributing to state crime scholarship it presents a multidimensional theoretical lens by using organised crime theoretical models and critical criminology concepts to explain the role of the state in producing multiple insecurities that exclude citizens and non-citizens through criminalisation processes.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Additional Information: Due to confidentiality issues access to this thesis is permanently restricted, it is not available for consultation.
• Keywords: Violent corruption, state crime, criminalisation processes.
• Subjects: E History America > E11 America (General); J Political Science > JA Political science (General); K Law > K Law (General)
• Colleges/Schools: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Politics; College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Sociology Anthropology and Applied Social Sciences
• Supervisor's Name: Mackenzie, Dr. Simon
• Date of Award: 2016
• Depositing User: Miss Shadi Whitburn
• Unique ID: glathesis:2016-7326
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 02 Jun 2016 07:37
• Last Modified: 23 Feb 2024 09:57
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.7326
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/7326