By Emilomo Ogbe , Stacy Harmon , Rafael Van den Bergh , Olivier Degomme 

  Background - Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a key public health issue, with a myriad of physical, sexual and emotional consequences for the survivors of violence. Social support has been found to be an important factor in mitigating and moderating the consequences of IPV and improving health outcomes. This study’s objective was to identify and assess network oriented and support mediated IPV interventions, focused on improving mental health outcomes among IPV survivors. Methods A systematic scoping review of the literature was done adhering to PRISMA guidelines. The search covered a period of 1980 to 2017 with no language restrictions across the following databases, Medline, Embase, Web of Science, PROQUEST, and Cochrane. Studies were included if they were primary studies of IPV interventions targeted at survivors focused on improving access to social support, mental health outcomes and access to resources for survivors. Results 337 articles were subjected to full text screening, of which 27 articles met screening criteria. The review included both quantitative and qualitative articles. As the focus of the review was on social support, we identified interventions that were i) focused on individual IPV survivors and improving their access to resources and coping strategies, and ii) interventions focused on both individual IPV survivors as well as their communities and networks. We categorized social support interventions identified by the review as Survivor focused, advocate/case management interventions (15 studies), survivor focused, advocate/case management interventions with a psychotherapy component (3 studies), community-focused, social support interventions (6 studies), community-focused, social support interventions with a psychotherapy component (3 studies). Most of the studies, resulted in improvements in social support and/or mental health outcomes of survivors, with little evidence of their effect on IPV reduction or increase in healthcare utilization. Conclusion There is good evidence of the effect of IPV interventions focused on improving access to social support through the use of advocates with strong linkages with community based structures and networks, on better mental health outcomes of survivors, there is a need for more robust/ high quality research to assess in what contexts and for whom, these interventions work better compared to other forms of IPV interventions. 

PLoS ONE 15(6): e0235177.

By The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

Hundreds of gang members, murderers, and sex offenders exploited a vulnerability in America’s immigration systemWASHINGTON – Today U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services published a report identifying significant national security and integrity vulnerabilities in the Special Immigrant Juvenile program. These national security vulnerabilities provided a path to lawful permanent residence and eventually citizenship to criminal aliens, gang members, and known or suspected terrorists.The “Criminality, Gangs, and Program Integrity Concerns in Special Immigrant Juvenile Petitions” report reviews over 300,000 aliens’ SIJ petitions filed from the beginning of fiscal year 2013 through February 2025. According to the report:More than half of SIJ petitioners filing in FY 2024 were over age 18;Many entered the United States without inspection;Many came from countries identified as posing national security concerns, demonstrating the lax screening and vetting and anti-fraud policies of the Biden Administration; andSome SIJ petitioners engaged in age and identity fraud, including falsifying their name, date of birth, and country of citizenship.The report also identified 853 known or suspected gang members who filed SIJ petitions, most of which were approved. More than 600 MS-13 gang members filed SIJ petitions, and more than 500 were approved. MS-13 gang member SIJ petitioners include at least 70 charged with federal racketeering offenses and many others charged with violent crimes in the United States. Other approved gang members include more than 100 known or suspected members of the 18th Street gang; at least three Tren de Aragua gang members; and dozens of Sureños and Norteños gang members.“Criminal aliens are infiltrating the U.S. through a program meant to protect abused, neglected, or abandoned alien children,” said USCIS Spokesman Matthew J. Tragesser. “This report exposes how the open border lobby and activist judges are exploiting loopholes in the name of aiding helpless children.”On June 6, USCIS rescinded the policy of categorically considering deferred action for special immigrant juveniles. The Trump administration also is exploring further action to mitigate vulnerabilities in the integrity of the SIJ program, address significant national security and public safety concerns, and ensure the SIJ classification remains available for the juveniles it was intended to protect.Congress first established the SIJ program in 1990 and has amended it several times to allow young illegal aliens, whom a juvenile court has determined cannot reunify with one or both parents due to abuse, neglect, or abandonment, to apply for SIJ classification and lawful permanent resident status and have an eventual path to U.S. citizenship. By law, there are no criminal bars or good moral character requirements for SIJ petition approval.

Washington, DC: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, 2025. 36p.

By The University of California Digital Investigations Network

In January 2023, the University of California Digital Investigations Network (UC Network) received a Public Interest Technology University Network grant to institutionalize and expand the UC Network to support frontline environmental defenders. During the first phase of the project, in collaboration with Cultural Survival, an organization that advocates for Indigenous Peoples’ rights and supports Indigenous communities’ self-determination, cultures and political resilience, students in the UC Network conducted an open source investigation (OSI) into the deaths of 13 murdered Indigenous land defenders in Brazil, and produced a report documenting the circumstances surrounding their deaths (also available in Portuguese). During the second phase of the project, we focused on developing a broader understanding of how OSI methods can be used to document environmental harms globally, and how OSI is being used in environmental harm research, advocacy and litigation. We conducted a literature review and case law analysis, and convened a meeting with leading several experts who are using OSI in their work, and conducted individual consultations with others. This brief report is an outcome of phase two of our project. In addition, environmental exploitation often goes hand in hand with human exploitation. Indigenous communities are at the forefront of land defense worldwide as their land is often targeted by state and corporate actors through agriculture, fishing, logging, and mining and the extraction of other resources. For example, the Brazilian human rights group Conselho Indigenista Missionario reported the killing of 795 Indigenous land defenders between 2019 and 2022 under former president Jair Bolsonaro. Those engaged in seeking accountability for environmental harms should consider the use of OSI tools to complement more traditional research methods and thoroughly document the ways in which land, peoples and communities have been impacted by extractive, pollutive, and degrading practices.   

Berkeley: The University of California Digital Investigations Network, 2024.   10p.

By Ajeng Larasati and Marcela Jofré 

Since the adoption of the Second Protocol to the ICCPR in 1989, aiming at the abolition of the death penalty, a total of 90 countries have ratified the international treaty with 12 of them joining this international commitment in the decade between 2014 and 2023. Coupled with national and international civil society activism, the strong push towards abolition contributed to the abolition of the death penalty for all crimes in 14 countries, and for ordinary crimes in 5 other countries between 2014 and 2023. Unfortunately, these positive developments were not mirrored by parallel progress towards abolition of the death penalty for drug offences specifically. Of those countries which abolished the death penalty for all or ordinary crimes, none had the death penalty for drug crimes in the books; and of those which reduced the list of crimes to which the death penalty could be imposed, only one did so for all drug offences, namely Pakistan, in 2023. According to HRI’s Global Overview 2023, 34 countries and territories still have the death penalty for drug offences in the law. Known drug-related executions remain high; they accounted for roughly 42% of total executions in 2023. This is despite international advocacy and an increasing engagement by the United Nations (UN), international bodies, as well as civil society to move towards the abolition of the death penalty. For example, in 2019, the UN Human Rights Committee adopted General Comment Number 36, which provides authoritative guidance on the interpretation of Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and clarifies standards on the use of the death penalty according to international law. Among other things, the General Comment also elaborates on the irrevocability of the abolition of the death penalty for those countries that have already abolished it and explicitly mentions that drug offences “can never serve as the basis” for the application of the death penalty. There has also been widespread recognition of the many human rights violations associated with its application. Special Rapporteurs and other UN mechanisms have regularly monitored and reported on the application of the death penalty and human rights violations experienced by people facing or sentenced to death, including violations of a fair trial and due process and freedom from torture and ill-treatment. Leveraging HRI’s unique expertise in this field, this report will analyse how the landscape of the death penalty for drug offences has shifted in the last decade. This report builds on the pioneering work HRI has been doing since its first ‘The Death Penalty for Drug Offences: Global Overview (‘Global Overview’) in 2007, which analyses the main trends regarding people on death row9 , death sentences and executions for drug offences, as well as key developments at national and international level in the last decade, between 2014 and 2023

London: Harm Reduction International, 2024  46p.

By Travis J. Masters, Rebecca Gambler

CBP relied on contracts to operate and maintain soft-sided facilities (SSF). These facilities provide support and services when additional processing and holding capacity is needed for individuals apprehended along the southwest border. DHS also received funding to construct Joint Processing Centers (JPC)—permanent facilities that DHS expects will be more cost-effective than SSFs in the future. GAO was asked to review CBP’s and DHS’s use and oversight of SSFs and JPCs. This report examines, among other things, (1) how CBP used contracts to support its SSF needs, and (2) the extent to which CBP and DHS engaged in planning efforts for SSF and JPC related acquisitions. GAO analyzed contracting data on SSF contract obligations for fiscal years 2019-2024, and reviewed DHS budget plans, acquisition policies, and cost estimates for SSFs and JPCs. GAO also visited four selected SSF locations in Yuma and Tucson, AZ, El Paso, TX, and San Diego, CA based in part on apprehension and cost data; reviewed a nongeneralizable sample of eight of 69 contracts for SSFs and JPC construction contract documents; and interviewed DHS and CBP officials. What GAO Recommends GAO is making six recommendations, including that CBP identifies and documents lessons learned from its SSF acquisitions; and that DHS documents its process for identifying future JPC locations and completes a life-cycle cost estimate for the Laredo JPC. DHS concurred with the recommendations  

Washington, DC: United States Government Accountability Office  - GAO, 2025. 64p

By Daniel Herda and Amshula Divadkar

Whether it be about population size, origin, or legal status, what ordinary citizens imagine about immigrants is often incorrect. Furthermore, these misperceptions predict greater dislike of foreigners. But, if one considers all the facts that people could get wrong, researchers have likely only scratched the surface. To advance toward a more complete catalog of misperceptions, the current study focuses on one commonly held stereotype: immigrants’ propensity for crime. Using original data from a sample of college students, we examine the crime perception alongside nine established components of the imagined immigration, comparing their extent and consequences for a hypothetical anti-immigrant policy. Findings indicate that misperception levels vary across the ten factual questions considered. Many mistakes are consequential, but the criminal stereotype is the most damaging. It constitutes an important missing component in imagined immigration studies. The findings present implications for anti-immigrant sentiment research and for developing a more accurately informed population.

Migration Letters, 20(1), 71–87

By Ximena Canal Laiton

This report examines the experiences of migrant women in transit in South America. It is based on 4Mi1 surveys and interviews with migrant women and key informants conducted in Peru, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay, Colombia, and Brazil between December 2024 and May 2025. Addressing the lack of information on women’s experience of migration in the region, this report presents findings on risks, sexual and reproductive health issues, the gender-based division of labour, mechanisms and barriers to self-protection, access to assistance, and the needs of migrant women in transit. The report provides empirical evidence to inform decision-makers and humanitarian actors. Key findings • Women are consistently affected by the general risks of migration routes in South America, in particular mentioning theft, extortion, bribery, and verbal violence. In addition, this research identified specific risks of sexual violence for women in transit, such as abuse and exploitation, which may go unnoticed by many migrant women despite being flagged by key informants. • The adverse conditions of migration have a major impact on the sexual and reproductive health of some women. During the journey, pregnancy, breastfeeding, and menstruation often occur in inadequate circumstances, which increases the health risks for women or their babies, born or to be born, including morbidity, mortality, low birth weight, malnutrition, vaginal infections, and toxic shock syndrome, among others. • Constant stress, the uncertainty of migration, migratory grief, and other related factors negatively impact women’s mental health during migration. The data shows that migrant women experience feelings of sadness, frustration, fear, and guilt. • Women adopt various self-protection strategies to cope with the dangers of the journey. The main measures include staying in touch with family, planning the journey, and travelling with companions. While emotional care strategies exist, the women interviewed reported using very few and revealed a persistent lack of tools to manage emotional challenges. • The gender-based division of labour persists during migration, with women being assigned domestic and care tasks. Women are primarily responsible for caring for children and other dependents, as well as organising meals and groceries for the travel group. • Despite the meaningful humanitarian response along migration routes in South America, these services still need to be strengthened. Almost half of the women respondents reported not receiving assistance during their journey, while most stated that they had unmet needs at the time of the survey, mainly needing cash, accommodation, and medical care.

London: Mixed Migration Centre, 2025. 28p.

By Bail for Immigration Detainees -

The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (“LASPO”) took most immigration cases out of scope of legal aid. However, Exceptional Case Funding (“ECF”) was introduced as a ‘safety net’ for people whose cases fell out of the scope of legal aid but whose exclusion would result in breaches of their human rights. This report explored the hurdles of applying for ECF and then finding a legal aid lawyer for people facing deportation and those whose claims to remain in the UK were based on Article 8 (private & family life) of the Human Rights Act.

The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (“LASPO”) took most immigration cases out of scope of legal aid. However, Exceptional Case Funding (“ECF”) was introduced as a ‘safety net’ for people whose cases fell out of the scope of legal aid but whose exclusion would result in breaches of their human rights. This report explored the hurdles of applying for ECF and then finding a legal aid lawyer for people facing deportation and those whose claims to remain in the UK were based on Article 8 (private & family life) of the Human Rights Act.

London: BiD, 2025. 41p. 

By Galya Ben-Arieh and Volker M. Heins

This article explores the emergence of the crime of migrant smuggling and its legitimising narratives as tools of global migration management. We examine the ways in which the language of ‘migrant smuggling’ was introduced into and then lifted out of the context of international law and recontextualised to serve the purposes of migration management. The main consequence of this fusion of law, narrative, and policy is the definition of the legality of actors and actions along the migration routes across the Sahara, the Mediterranean and Europe. We examine the conflict between two dominant narratives of legality: the smugglers’ narrative vs the rescue narrative. Laws designed to protect people are being turned against the people they were ostensibly designed to protect. We argue that the smuggler narrative facilitates policies whereby wealthy states, under the pretence of law, contain migration from the South within the broader framework of a divisive global politics of life. Since these policies are implemented through bribery, blackmail, and brute force, they are displaying the ugly face of global migration governance without contributing in any way to a solution of the problems driving migration in the current global environment

Third World Quarterly 2021, Vol. 42, No. 1, 200–217Criminalisation of kindness: narratives of legality in the European politics of migration containmentGalya Ben-Arieh a and Volker M. Heins

By Eamon Aloyo & Eugenio Cusumano

Much of the recent debate on immigration to Europe has focused on how many refugees should be allowed to enter and how refugees should be distributed among EU member states, but there has been less academic focus on under what conditions, if any, human smuggling is morally permissible. How should we morally assess those who make a business out of helping migrants reach their desired destination and those who pay smugglers to reach their destination? We argue that human smuggling is morally permissible under some conditions even if it is illegal. Human trafficking, by contrast, is immoral and should be illegal. The moral conditions for permissible human smuggling are sometimes being met on the route from Africa to Europe (but are all too often grossly violated). We consider and rebut objections based on the arguments that a legal prohibition on human smuggling must translate into a moral one, and that human smuggling violates the rights of individuals to freedom of association in receiving countries. We conclude with policy implications

Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 24(2), 133–156.

By Corey Robinson

Using an analytic of problematisation that incorporates insights from governmentality studies and migration studies, this article documents and conceptualises the role of capacity building in the offshoring and outsourcing of Canada’s anti-smuggling policy. I examine the problematisation of migrant smuggling in interviews, access to information requests and publicly available texts to show how, why and with what effects, the Canadian government, in collaboration with UN agencies, engaged in capacity building across Southeast Asia and West Africa to combat migrant smuggling and interdict migrant vessels before they departed for Canada. I argue that under the technocratic banner of capacity building, anti-smuggling policy constitutes migrant smuggling as an object of discourse. Anti-smuggling policy, I contend, frames, rationalises and obscures the interdiction of refugees and the externalisation of protection as politically neutral, technocratic efforts to build capacity to combat migrant smuggling. Though capacity building may include apparently positive measures to enhance international cooperation, if it frustrates access to asylum, as this article suggests, it can be said to externalise international protection responsibilities, contrary to the principles outlined in the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration and the Global Compact on Refugees.

Geopolitics, 29(1), 13–38

By Corey Robinson

Offering return assistance and financial inducements to migrants and asylum-seekers, assisted voluntary return and reintegration (AVRR) programmes are critical to the management of migration. While AVRR programmes have emerged as an area of study in their own right, little attention has been paid to the role of these schemes in the transnational politics of anti-smuggling policy. Building on insights from border studies, migration studies and security studies, this article examines the Global Assistance for Irregular Migrants (GAIM) programme. The GAIM programme is an AVRR programme funded by the Canadian government and implemented by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which targeted Sri Lankan nationals stranded following the disruption of smuggling ventures in West Africa. This article examines how the GAIM programme framed, rationalised and obscured the practice of neoliberal deportation as a humanitarian gesture in the interests of migrants themselves. It documents and conceptualises the humanitarian claims, narratives and representations mobilised by Canada and the IOM to explain and justify the return of stranded asylum-seekers. It argues that the GAIM programme can be analysed as a form of humanitarian securitisation, which obscures the politics of anti-smuggling policy, masks the violence of deportation and legitimises the return of stranded asylum-seekers.

Third World Quarterly Volume 43, 2022 - Issue 4

By Eyene Okpanachi & Christian Kaunert

This article investigates the influence of non-state actors’ activities on migrants’ journeys and the resulting phenomena of ‘stranded migrants’ and forced (im)mobilities in Libya. Due to the intense instability in Libya in the post-Gaddafi era and increasing restrictions on EU borders, return migration became a major plank of the EU’s migration policy. The article examines the distinct nature of the European Union’s externalisation policies and practices regarding migration. Specifically, it explores how these policies, when implemented in politically unstable contexts such as Libya, involve armed actors (or militias) who enforce immigration control through the use of violence against migrants. As a result of these practices, distinct dynamics of multi-level governance (MLG) have emerged, in which informal non-state actors play leading roles in the complicated nexus between informality and formality, making migration to Europe and the return of stranded migrants to their home countries difficult.

Third World Quarterly, Volume 45, 2024 - Issue 17-18

By Karolina Augustovaa, Helena Carrapicob, and Jelena Obradović-Wochnik

Migrants’ involvement in smuggling increases alongside restricted cross-border movement and violent borders, yet this dynamic is usually examined from migrants’ position as clients.In this article, we move away from migrants and smugglers as two separate roles and question migrants’ aspirations to and experiences of resorting to smuggling networks as workers in the context of EU land borders, where direct violence is used daily to fight cross-border crime. By doing so, we move furtherthe examination of fluid relations in smuggling provisions and the way they are intertwined with care and exploitation, asshaped and circumscribed by violent borders. The article illus-trates the intersections between border violence and migrants active involvement in smuggling by drawing on the case studyof an anonymised Border Town and multi-site, multi-author fieldwork from Serbia and Bosnia. By questioning migrants experiences of shifting roles from clients to service providers,and by taking into account their work in smuggling provision,we show that, in a situation of protracted vulnerability orche-strated by border violence, state and law enforcement, the categories – “migrant” and “smugglers” – can blur.Introduction I am a smuggler. Without smugglers, no people would reach Europe, not evenme’, said Mula, while sitting in a train station. Mula, like dozens of other people around him, travelled through the ‘Balkan Route’ to attempt hisjourney across the increasingly violent borders with the EU states, such asCroatia. However, Mula had no money, and the only way to pay for clandes-tine transport was using his own labour as a smuggler, as he called himself.A blurring of clients and perpetrators in organised crime is not a new phenomenon (Lo Iacono 2014). Same patterns of fluid relations also takeplace in smuggling, an activity recognised in policy terms as impersonal organised crime; a feature that, however, often lacks in human smuggling

GEOPOLITICS2023, VOL. 28, NO. 2, 619–640

By Angelo Martins Junior & Julia O’Connell Davidson

Antislavery actors evoke the history of the transatlantic slave trade in campaigns to mobilise action to address the suffering experienced by contemporary migrants described as ‘victims of trafficking’. That framing has been picked up by state actors who present measures to supress unauthorised migration per se as necessary to protect migrants from a ‘modern-day slave trade’. Yet the parallel between trafficking and the slave trade is undermined by the fact that people who today are described as ‘trafficked’, as much as those described as ‘smuggled’, actively wish to travel and do so in the hope that by moving, they will secure greater freedoms. This article therefore asks whether there are similarities between the journeys of contemporary unauthorised migrants and those of enslaved people who fled from slavery in the Atlantic World, and if so, why. Bringing data from historical sources on slave flight into dialogue with data on the journeys of contemporary sub-Saharan African migrants to Europe and Brazil, it identifies a number of experiential parallels, and argues that for those concerned with migrants’ rights, enslaved people’s fugitivity potentially offers a more fruitful point of historical comparison than does the slave trade.

Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Volume 48, 2022 - Issue 7

By Jamal Barnes, Mostafa Mahmud Naser & Joshua Aston

It is widely recognised that migrants and irregular migrants are at risk of modern slavery and slavery-like practices worldwide. As migrants and irregular migrants make their way across state borders, or reach their destination countries, they have been victim to practices such as forced labour, exploitation, wage theft, torture and inhuman treatment and sexual servitude, among other practices. Australia is no exception, with just under 300 cases of modern slavery reported to the Australian Federal Police between 2021 and 2022. Although Australia has acted to stop slavery and slavery-like practices, it has focused on a law enforcement response, ignoring the role that laws and policies play in contributing to modern slavery in Australia. This article adopts a vulnerability approach to modern slavery, examining how legal, policy, institutional and structural factors within Australia contribute to exacerbating the vulnerability of migrants and irregular migrants to modern slavery and slavery-like practices. Utilising a vulnerability framework not only moves beyond the law enforcement approaches taken by the Australian government, but sheds important light on the need for policy, legal and institutional reform to effectively combat modern slavery in Australia and ensure there is redress and justice for its victims.

Australian Journal of Human Rights, Volume 29, 2023 - Issue 1

By Monica Massari

This article addresses the counter-effects of the politics of externalization of European frontiers in Libya through a qualitative analysis of a case study concerning a group of Somali asylum-seekers who, after being held and tortured in Libyan detention centres, managed to cross the Mediterranean and arrived in Italy where they accidentally met and, thus, pressed charges against their torturer. Based on the information provided in the judicial files containing their testimonies, which led to the first recognition by a European court of the unbearable forms of violence suffered by migrants in Libya, this article offers a critical reflection on the implications of migration control enforcement promoted at the EU’s borders on the European civil and political community. Moreover, it provides a reflection on the challenges raised for migration studies by survivors’ testimonies on the wider implications of subjective experiences and biographical narratives in illuminating emerging domains of social responsibility and political action.

Ethnic and Racial Studies, Volume 45, 2022 - Issue 16

By Human Rights Watch

Whether fleeing conflict or risks of persecution in their countries, escaping poverty, or seeking a better life, increasing numbers of migrants and asylum seekers have taken the “Atlantic Route” from Africa’s northwest coast towards Spain’s Canary Islands since 2020, with more arriving by boat in 2024 than ever before. In Mauritania, a key transit country along the route, authorities have cracked down on irregular migration while the European Union and Spain have ramped up efforts to outsource or “externalize” migration controls. “They Accused Me of Trying to Go to Europe” documents abuses by Mauritanian security forces against migrants, asylum seekers, and people accused of migrant smuggling between 2020 and early 2025. Based on interviews with over 200 people, including over 100 migrants and asylum seekers, the report documents violence, arbitrary arrests, extortion, racist treatment, inhumane detention, and collective expulsions to Mauritania’s land borders with Mali and Senegal, where people have been exposed to risks in remote border areas – including due to active armed conflict in Mali. The report also traces the extent and impact of the externalization of border controls and migration management by the EU and Spain in Mauritania, including increased funding and other support to Mauritanian security forces, despite abuses. It highlights deaths and disappearances in the Atlantic due, in part, to inadequate search-andrescue, and reveals the negative impacts of Mauritania’s interceptions and forced returns of migrant boats, supported by the EU and Spain. Human Rights Watch calls on Mauritania to respect migrants’ rights, building recent efforts to begin to address concerns, and calls on Spain and the EU to ensure human rights monitoring of funded projects and set criteria for suspending funding if rights violations continue.  

New York: HRW, 2025. 160p.

By Jon Davies & Maryana Kachynska 

This paper critically examines the intricate relationship between approaches to modern slavery and immigration policy in the UK, particularly in relation to migrants from Romania, Albania, and Ukraine. It situates the discussion within the broader context of state policies and practices that perpetuate exploitation, thereby challenging the notion that the UK has a ‘world-leading’ approach towards addressing modern slavery. The discussion highlights how immigration controls often intertwine with crime control, thereby facilitating a hostile environment for migrants. By drawing on examples from Romania, Albania, and Ukraine, the paper illustrates the varied and detrimental impacts of UK immigration and modern slavery policies on these groups. Furthermore, the paper explores public and political perceptions of immigration, noting fluctuations in attitudes post-EU withdrawal and across groups of migrants. The discussion extends to hinting at policy shifts under the new Labour government, addressing systemic challenges in addressing labour exploitation and reforming immigration. Ultimately, the paper calls for a nuanced approach that prioritises humanitarian and labour/employment considerations alongside security concerns, acknowledging the persistent complexities with modern slavery and immigration issues.

Int Criminol 4, 396–407 (2024)

By Robert Post

The 1974 Woodward Committee Report at Yale University is regarded as an “authoritative” and “timeless” defense of freedom of speech on university campuses. The Report was commissioned by Yale President Kingman Brewster after student protests prevented Stanford physicist William Shockley from speaking on campus in response to the invitation of a student group. Students objected to Shockley’s racist views. The Report argues that free expression is the “central purpose” of a university, and that therefore speakers’ rights should take precedence over considerations of respect and civility. The Report asserts that the rights of speakers should be “unfettered.” The Report is throughout influenced by the First Amendment opinions of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

This article argues that the Woodward Report fundamentally confuses freedom of speech and academic freedom. In the American constitutional tradition, freedom of speech is a speaker-oriented right whose purpose is to ensure that “authority . . . is to be controlled by public opinion, not public opinion by authority.” Because the First Amendment stands as the guardian of American democracy, every person enjoys an equal constitutional right to participate in the formation of public opinion. For First Amendment purposes, speech is the medium within which self-government transpires, and so content and viewpoint discrimination is forbidden.

Speech in universities, by contrast, has a very different structure. Speech is not about democracy or self-governance. It is instead the medium within which universities seek to achieve their twin purposes of research and education. These purposes cannot be achieved unless speech is both free and disciplined. This odd combination is embedded in the framework of academic freedom, which both guarantees faculty and students liberty to speak their minds and yet simultaneously subjects that expression to rigorous forms of evaluation and judgment.

In universities, speech that facilitates research and education is protected, but speech that undermines research and education is not. Certain kinds of civility are essential for education, which is why academic freedom prohibits faculty from verbally abusing students. This article denominates this kind of civility adverbial civility, because it concerns the treatment of persons. Other kinds of civility, however, may be inconsistent with education, because it is used as a reason to shut down rational engagement with ideas deemed hateful and obnoxious. This article denominates this kind of civility adjectival civility, because it concerns the character of ideas under discussion.

Academic freedom requires adverbial civility, but it may be inconsistent with adjectival civility. The Woodward Report misses this essential distinction because it focuses on the rights of speakers instead of carefully analyzing the educational mission of universities. If, as seems to be the case, most major universities regard their undergraduate education as oriented to preparing students to become democratic citizens, it is essential for universities to teach students democratic tolerance, which is to say the ability rationally to engage the ideas of peers, even if those ideas are hateful or obnoxious. On this account of the purpose of a university education, adjectival civility cannot be a reason to prevent speech.

A correct analysis of the Shockley incident at Yale does not turn on Shockley’s right to speak, because Shockley had no such right, but instead on Yale’s educational objectives in dealing with its students. By focusing narrowly on First Amendment rights of free speech, the Woodward Report entirely misses this dimension of the problem. It fails to illuminate what lessons Yale should be teaching its students and the implications of those lessons for Yale’s response to the suppression of Shockley’s speech.