Scapegoating juvenile ‘people smugglers’ from Indonesia: poverty, crime, and punishment

Pacific Geographies

article

Antje Missbach & Wayne Palmer¹ 

[1] Bielefeld University, Faculty of Sociology, Universitätsstraße 25

关键词: People smuggling;    criminalisation;    recruitment into crime;    punishment;    poverty;   

DOI  :  10.23791/570410

来源: Arbeitsgemeinschaft fuer Pazifische Studien e.V.

【 摘 要 】

This article introduces two case studies of underage transporters from Indonesia, who brought asylumseekers to Australia by boat and thus were convicted and jailed for the crime of people smuggling. In lightof the hyper-politicised issue of people smuggling and the need to find punishable perpetrators, transportershave become the main target of anti-people-smuggling law enforcement. Both transporters came from poorfamilies and started working early on in their lives, which also involved their deceptive recruitment into peoplesmuggling networks. But the outcome of their prosecutions differs substantially, not least, as one of them wasconvicted in an Australian court and the other in Indonesia. In this article, we problematise the culpability ofunderage smugglers and argue for more lenient treatment by law-enforcement authorities.

【 授权许可】

CC BY-NC-ND