P076 - Policing the Roma: Exploring Manifestations of Securitisation in the Slovak Criminal Justice System

• In Event: Poster Session & Ice Cream Social

Abstract

Stereotypes about the Roma as criminal are widespread in European societies. Securitisation of the Roma as a “crime issue” by politicians leads to a spillover of anti-Roma racism into criminal justice systems, including fatalities due to police ill-treatment. Institutionalised racism perpetuates a culture of impunity in which allegations of police ill-treatment are not properly investigated. Although the Roma are consistently framed as a criminogenic issue, criminological interest in anti-Roma racism is low. The current study applies the securitisation framework to explore manifestations of anti-Roma racism within the Slovak criminal justice system. The study hypothesises that an act of securitisation becomes an intentional tool of reinforcing the status quo of societal classism within democratic societies. In other words, some political actors use securitisation to reinforce existing negative racial stereotypes in order to keep the general public disinterested in issues of marginalised communities, including abuses of power (i.e., police ill-treatment). This qualitative study analyses fourteen incidents of police ill-treatment, utilising comparative case study analysis conducted based on various open-source materials to test its hypothesis. The results of the case study analysis are discussed in relation to institutional racism in national jurisdictions and contribute to relevant European policies improving the protection of Roma rights within criminal justice systems.

Author

• Barbara Krakovská, Leiden University