Crimmigration policies and the great recession: Analysis of the Spanish case

Abstract

Crimmigration policies, in Spain and elsewhere, have shown a complex interplay between neoliberal and sovereign rationales of control throughout the first decade of the twenty-first century. However, the analysis of this domain of penal control should be revised in the context of the Great Recession. Indeed, in the Spanish case, crimmigration policies have incorporated a set of innovations in recent years. Some of them, such as the readjustment of the deportation system, can be understood from a neoliberal perspective. Others, such as changes in policing, have a more hybrid profile, in which neoliberal features encounter sovereign and neoconservative trends. Therefore, the context of the Great Recession requires a new analysis of the hybridization between neoliberal and sovereign devices of control in the area of crimmigration policies.