Knowledge of, about, for, and against Criminalized Migration

• Published date: 01 September 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/00027162241251962
• Author: Andrew Geddes
• Date: 01 September 2023

218 ANNALS, AAPSS, 709, September 2023

DOI: 10.1177/00027162241251962

Knowledge of,

about, for, and

against

Criminalized

Migration

By

ANDREW GEDDES

1251962ANN THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMYCRIMINALIZED MIGRATION

research-article2024

While this volume contributes to the expansion of

knowledge about the criminalization of migration, this

article seeks to build on collected contributions by

identifying gaps that can impede uptake of this knowl-

edge, particularly by policymakers and practitioners. I

argue that a key challenge is not necessarily a lack of

scientific evidence and information, but limits to the

use or uptake of research. These limits are character-

ized as being linked to more general challenges of

“post-normal” science when facts and values can at

times be uncertain and contested while the stakes are

very high and the need for decisions is seen as being

urgent.

Keywords: migration; criminalization; knowledge;

policymaking

This volume of research offers powerful,

timely, and compelling accounts of the

criminalization of migration. It not only pro-

vides a grim reflection of prevailing trends in

policies and practices, but also contributes to

an evidence base grounded in the experiences

of migrants, first and foremost from the Global

South. As such, this collection can contribute

to actions that remedy some of the serious

consequences—both intended and unin-

tended—of global migration regimes that have

criminalized migrants who seek to move south

to north and south to south. By criminalizing

migration, these regimes not only have

excluded, marginalized, and incarcerated but,

more, have cost the lives of tens of thousands of

people during international migration journeys

and endangered many others. The criminaliza-

tion of migration results from codifications for

selection developed by governments that

Correspondence: andrew.geddes@eui.eu

Andrew Geddes is a professor of migration studies and

director of the Migration Policy Centre in the Robert

Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the European

University Institute, Florence, Italy.