Book Review: Ana Aliverti, Policing the Borders WithinHenrique Carvalho, Introduction to the Review Symposium
| Author | Henrique Carvalho |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/13624806221132529 |
| Published date | 01 February 2023 |
| Date | 01 February 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
Thinking there are easy answers to this would defy the point, and Vannier avoids this
trap, alluring as it clearly is. Vannier’s account is a reminder that the best criminological
research can add insight and new understanding that allows us to reframe the debates
around penal policy. And here, what she does is to show us that the problem of
LWOP is not merely a problem of legislation, or of rising numbers of people serving
LWOP sentences (though of course it is those things too), it is about trying to reduce
the human suffering inside our prison systems. We should not lose sight of those who
are most directly impacted by LWOP. Rather than pick over the rationales behind
either LWOP or execution, what we require then is a more fundamental, encompassing
and complicated debate: “how should we, as members of different societies, punish
those who commit the most serious crimes?’(p.166).
Dr Louise Brangan is a Chancellor’s Fellow in Criminology at the University of
Strathclyde, UK. Louise.Brangan@strath.ac.uk
Ana Aliverti, Policing the Borders Within,
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022. 272 pp. ISBN: 9780198868828
Introduction to the Review Symposium
Henrique Carvalho, University of Warwick, UK
The study of borders and their symbolic and material importance to social order and
political authority has risen to prominence in recent sociological, criminological, and
legal scholarship, significantly influencing the ways we imagine and understand contem-
porary problems in these fields. In Policing the Borders Within, Ana Aliverti tests the
boundaries of this new paradigm, offering a detailed, nuanced, and sophisticated explor-
ation of inland border controls in Britain. By delving into the ‘messiness,’and affective
and moral complexities of policing and immigration control, Aliverti’s ethnographic
work provides a fresh glimpse into the tensions and contradictions inherent in the exercise
and maintenance of state power.
In the review essays in this symposium, leading scholars reflect on the contributions of
this important work as well as the challenges and opportunities it presents to present and
future thinking in the area.
Policing the lottery of birth
Katja Franko
University of Oslo, Norway
The timing of Ana Aliverti’s book Policing the Borders Within is tragically apposite. At
the time of writing this review, the British public is faced with a potent reminder of the
human costs of border control with the drowning of 27 migrants in the English Channel
1
.
The event, although the largest single loss of life in the English Channel in the past
decade, is by no means unusual in terms of the casualties occurring at Europe’s external
Book Reviews 167
To continue reading
Request your trial