Criminalization waves
in Portugal
António Pedro Dores,
http://iscte.pt/~apad
Toulouse, 19/21 October 2007
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Os holandeses ficaram feridos com o facto de terem visto jovens marroquinos (paracidos com os
que têm no seu país) a festejar o 11 de Setembro (em Portugal essas imagens não criaram
nenhuma emoção especial: foram compreendidas).
Portugal é mais africano e atlanticodos paises europeus continentais, o que gera contradições
A imigração é residual mas evidente (as instituições tiveram tempo para se adaptar) e as leis são
as melhores (o rule of the Law é que não, para o bem e para o mal) e o crime é baixo, a
importãncia do turismo ajuda a bom acolhimento (separação dos imigrantes ricos,
nomeadamente os europeus ocidentais, dos outros) a concentração central de poderes favorece
o desligar entre lei e prática.
Política do centrão é forçada e reforça a incompetência bem organizada da administração
irresponsável e irresponsabilizada pelas polícy.
As detenções administrativas não são um problema (apenas pontual, junto ao aeroporto de Lx)
Os decretos de expulsão não são cumpridos para evitar despesas do Estado
Centralização das políticas no SEF e no ACIDI (ex-ACIM)
Política do PS (desde 1995/6) retirou da direita o argumento xenófobo e a dureza perante o
crime.
Há pouca informação e estudos (muito controlados uns e outros) e funcionalização dos
magistrados em guerra com os “políticos”
Summary
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Social integration problems in Portugal
Immigrant's social classification in Portugal
Ethnic discriminative feelings in Portugal
Non Nationals criminalization data
Causes of criminalization waves
Criminalization processing
Social integration problems
• Poor and ideological biased Welfare State
• Egoistic regional, social and age
concentration of wealth
• State use of clandestine working class
• Working class neighbourhoods racial and
youth tension
• Unemployment problems emerges
Immigrant's social classification
• No Muslim public discrimination problem –
they are respected and moderate
minorities, as are Jews or Buddhists.
• Immigrant social studies are focused on
Africans, Brazilians and East European
people.
Ethnic discriminative feelings
• Asian immigrants exist. Two times it happens
isolated political discriminating declarations
against Chinese business (Madeira and Lisbon).
• Os brasileiros no final do campeonato de Mundo
foram sovados pela polícia por terem entendido
(mal) que em dia de festa poderiam abandonar
a discrição na Caparica
• Stronger has been the episode of a fake
collective robbery (allegedly 500 black people) in
a popular beach near Lisbon
Discriminative social feelings (II)
• Brazilian dentists are the first immigrant
wave to Portugal, in the late 80´s.
Discrimination by doctors professional
association stopped by diplomatic
arrangements. They represented an up
grade modernization of teeth care in
Portugal.
Discriminative social feelings (III)
• Eastern Europe immigrant came by late
90´s and are welcomed by press –
arguing they were very well educated
(engineers and doctors working as
workers at building industry).
• The same people has been stigmatized as
Eastern mafias by security services, as a
way to legitimate taught control against
intensive immigrant wave
Discriminative social feelings (IV)
• Many dozens of Eastern doctors
immigrated in Portugal has been recruited
by FCG in order to be recognized as
professionals to help Portuguese health
care system lake of doctors.
Non Nationals criminalization data
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Fonte: http://www.dgsp.mj.pt/frameset_info.html, 2-10-2007
16000
14000
12000
Percentage of foreigner
inmates in Portuguese prisons
10000
tot estrangeiros
8000
tot
6000
4000
2000
25,00%
0
1999
2003
2006
20,00%
15,00%
Number of inmates
(comparing foreigner inmates)
10,00%
5,00%
0,00%
1
2
3
Gender criminalization of foreigners
Relative Growth of Foreigners Inmates
30,00%
25,00%
20,00%
women
15,00%
men
10,00%
5,00%
0,00%
1999
2003
2006
Nationality criminalization
Foreigner Inmates by Continental Origine
1600
1400
1200
África
1000
800
600
América latina
Europa
400
200
0
1999
2003
2006
Number of Inmates by Choosen Nationalities
400
América latina sem
Brasil
350
300
Brasil
250
200
150
Europa Ocidental
100
50
Europa de Leste
0
1999
2003
2006
What are the causes for the
criminalization waves?
• International politics (fear of new kind of
immigrants inside EU, for instance)
• National mood to accept international
politics (historical national feelings about
other people: semi-peripherical society)
• National State policies on migration
Traditional criminalization
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Lake of knowledge about social power taboos:
a) one figures prison as the house of criminals,
even when holocaust is happening;
b) secrecy of criminalization policies (court,
police, prison system, statistics);
c) political influences over judicial decisions;
d) institutional equilibrium between state powers.
Political criminalization
• Clandestine political opposition wrote the
history of criminalization waves against it;
• Today we are free to know what happened
(60´s), when it is all over;
• Most inmate do not read or write , do not
know their rights;
• The knowledge about changing prison
lives is social taboo & state secret;
Recent criminalization waves in
Portugal
• Disciplining bank check uses (80´s) first
changing movements to capitalism;
• War on drugs (90´s) caused overcrowded
prisons and increment drug dealing profits
(including inside prisons)
Old criminalization waves: political
historical and social relevance
• Jews (250 years Portuguese Inquisition)
• Jesuits
• Gypsies (we know it because they resist
several expulsion policies) (foreigners has
5 times their representation in prison and
gypsies have 10 times)
Criminalization processing
• Decriminalization waves; the bank check;
the drug consume;
• Politics and legislative processing
(socialist security politics in Portugal)
• Judiciary politics and policy (the mission of
the Prosecutor General; the ideological
and social education of Portuguese
judges; the crisis of justice in Portugal and
around the world)
Criminalization processing (II)
• Economic waves: state interest on
recruiting cheap labour force and
corruption syndrome on the control of
legislative and judicial executive tasks;
• Administrative waves: institutional
preparation to receive immigrants in
Portugal
• Incarceration waves:
Criminalization processing (III)
Criminalization Waves
total
drugs
check
ye
ar
20
05
ye
ar
20
03
ye
ar
20
01
ye
ar
19
99
foreigners
ye
ar
19
97
ye
ar
19
95
16000
14000
12000
10000
8000
6000
4000
2000
0
• Ver relatório Min Justiça onde se mostra
como há muitos arguidos por cheques
mas poucos condenados, ao passo que
há muitos arguidos por droga e quase
todos condenados
• BSS diz que seguros e bancos entopem
justiça
The End
Social integration problems
• Welfare State is weak in Portugal (it has
been established after democratic
revolution 1974).
• Inequality index is the biggest in Europe –
very sharp difference between Lisbon
region, political centre and more European
like way of life, and the rest of the country,
specially the countryside.
Social integration problems (II)
• Portuguese development dependent on
infrastructures State investment programs.
• Extensive use of precarious foreigner men
workers on building and tourism industries.
Women at home and cleaning industrial
services – strong appeal to immigrant
workers.
Social integration problems (III)
• Housing problems because renting market is
very short and selling market is closed to
foreigners.
• Social housing has been a problem by lake of
places available for every needed family, since
recently.
• Social housing begins to be, overall, a problem
for conviviality inside excluded neighbourhoods
and through metropolitan areas.
Social integration problems (IV)
• In the 90´s Portugal lived without
unemployment problems. Since than the
situation changed.
• Education and training the worse handicap
of Portuguese society (as well as justice
system inefficiency).