Racial Criminalization of Migrants in the 21st Century

In the course of the last two decades, the number of arrests, imprisonment and detention of aliens and citizens of foreign origin has increased significantly in the West. This volume examines this growing trend towards racial criminalization and victimization of migrants in the West, exploring the problem in a polysemous context that concerns immigrants, deviants and the many salient characteristics affecting both emigrating and immigrating societies and relations between the two poles.

Over the last two decades in the West, there has been a significant increase in the arrest, imprisonment and detention of migrants. The racial criminalization and victimization of migrants and Roma people has led judicial authorities, local governments, the police, mass media and the general population to perceive migrants and ''gypsies'' as responsible for a wide range of offences. Taking into consideration the political and cultural conditions that affect and interconnect societies of emigration and immigration, the contributors examine and compare a range of cases in Europe and the United States. The contributions demonstrate how the persecution of the ''current enemy'' is the ''total political fact'' of the 21st century in that it ensures consensus and business, or what might be termed the ''crime deal'' of today. This provocative book has international appeal and will be a valuable resource for academics, researchers and policymakers with an interest in migration and social and ethnic control.