New Article: Shalhoub-Kevorkian, A Universalist Perspective for How Israel is using Child Arrest

Shalhoub-Kevorkian, Nadera. “Childhood: A Universalist Perspective for How Israel is using Child Arrest and Detention to further its Colonial Settler Project.” International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies 12.3 (2015): 223-244.

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/aps.1456

 

Abstract

Drawing from reports and documentation published by Israeli and Palestinian human rights and children’s rights organizations, and establishing the analyses from the voices and stories of Palestinian children suffering from politically motivated abuses, the present paper examines child abuse in settler colonial contexts. Through the analyses of the various voices, narratives, and reports, the paper examines the inscription of state power over children’s bodies and lives, marking the connection between biopolitics and geopolitics, as well as the resultant suffering of children. The analyses of the collected data suggest that knowledge about child maltreatment and the violations of children’s rights cannot be dislocated from the history, politics, and structure of settler colonialism. The paper concludes by arguing that living a childhood situated in spaces of exterminability, as the voices of the studied children reveal, should be defined as child abuse and maltreatment.

 

 

 

New Article: Simmons and Hammer, Privatization of Prisons in Israel and Beyond

Simmons, William Paul, and Leonard Hammer. “Privatization of Prisons in Israel and Beyond: A Per Se Violation of the Human Right to Dignity.” Santa Clara Journal of International Law 13.2 (2015): 487-515.

 

URL: http://digitalcommons.law.scu.edu/scujil/vol13/iss2/7

 

Abstract

Making a rather ambitious, broad-form decision, the Israeli Supreme Court (ISC) in 2009 ruled that privatization of prisons is a per se violation of human rights, in particular the rights to liberty and dignity. The Court ruled that it was not the often deleterious consequences of privatization that violated the rights to liberty and dignity, but that privatization of prisons by itself was a violation. This decision has been subject to much negative commentary and criticism with most analyses focusing on the Court’s argument on the right to liberty. Scholars that have dismissed the opinion seemed to have misread it, often grounding their counter-arguments with faulty and wildly abstract premises that misrepresent the human rights issues at stake. This article focuses on the Court’s novel argument on the right to human dignity, and especially how privatization of prisons turns inmates into commodities. While this argument may have been under-developed in the Court’s opinion, teasing out and expanding on the Court’s logic could provide an important new avenue to consider when litigating matters that pertain to the fundamental human right to dignity in other forums, both domestic and international.

The Israeli Court decision briefly mentions that similar decisions have not been made in other forums and cited a brief that suggested that “were arguments of this kind to be raised before those courts, they would not be expected to be successful.” This paper argues instead that the logic of the Israeli decision on the human rights to dignity could be successful in other jurisdictions, especially those that have strong case law on the rights of vulnerable populations and the right to human dignity, such as South Africa, the African Commission of Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the Inter-American Human Rights system. Indeed, the viable contentions based on the human right to dignity that could be raised before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights serve as potential grounds for challenging the widespread privatization of prisons in the United States.

This paper begins with an analysis of the Israeli prison privatization case with a focus on the Court’s finding of a per se violation of the human right to dignity. The second section analyzes two previous commentaries of the Israeli case to show how even those in agreement with the Court’s decision have misread the case. This analysis provides a deeper and more nuanced reading of the Israeli Court’s logic on the human right to dignity, especially how the commodification of inmates in a private prison inherently is a violation of that right at least in the Israeli context. The third section expands upon the Court’s reasoning through a discussion of what has been referred to as “cauterization,” which involves branding a group as inferior, sealing it off from the social and political sphere, and reducing sympathy for its members. Interestingly, the same logic was also used in a recent groundbreaking mental health decision, Purohit and Moore v. Gambia, a case before the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The fourth section teases out the key elements of the Israeli decision to show which elements would need to be present to successfully bring such a case in other jurisdictions. These elements are present not only in the Israeli context, but also in the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the South African Constitutional Court, and the Inter-American Human Rights system.

 

 

New Book: Shoham, Prison Tattoos. A Study of Russian Inmates

Shoham, Efrat. Prison Tattoos. A Study of Russian Inmates in Israel. New York: Springer, 2015.

 
 

 

Table of Contents

1. Introduction 1
2. The Inmates Community   5
3. Tattoos 41
4. Anthropological Study 59
5. Typology of Tattoos Among Russian Inmates in Israeli Prisons   63
6. Tattoos and Gender  83
7. Criminals’ Tattoos Versus Normative Tattoos 87
8. Rehabilitation Programs for Russian Inmates in the Israeli Prisons 91
9. Summary 95

Bibliography 101

Index 107

 
 
 
 
Prof. Efrat Shoham is a senior criminologist in Ashkelon Academic College, Israel. She is the Chairperson of the Israeli Society of Criminology, and the research committee of the Israeli Prisoners Rehabilitation Authority.

New Book: Timor et al, eds., Juvenile Delinquents in Israel (in Hebrew)

תימור, אורי, סוזי בן ברוך, ואתי אלישע, עורכים. נוער בבלגן – קטינים עוברי חוק בישראל. דרכי מניעה, אכיפה ושיקום. ירושלים: מאגנס, 2015.

 

 

This book is the first book of its kind in Israel. It presents a comprehensive picture of youth struggling with normative functions, including juvenile delinquents in Israel, and focuses on deviant behaviors of these adolescents, their causes and those dealing them.

The articles on welfare agencies address activities aimed at prevention of school dropouts; guidance provided by the Public Defender’s Office for adolescents facing charges; punitive policy in juvenile courts; Treatment of Juvenile Probation Service youth convicted in court; the treatment of Youth Rehabilitation Services; Special treatment in closed institutions for juvenile offenders; and the treatment of adolescents in the juvenile prison “Ofek.”

The articles explaining deviant behaviors address the development of delinquency among adolescents from difficult social and family backgrounds, its stages and its causes; the growing use of alcohol and drugs among adolescents and its damages; and High School violence as perceived by the students. In addition, a number of articles were dedicated to these supplementary topics: procedures of restorative justice as alternative proceedings to criminal trials; connections between terrorist attacks and juvenile delinquents; school shootings in the United States as an extreme example of adolescent crime.

New Article: Dagan, Looking Beyond Risk in Paroling Denying Prisoners

Dagan, Netanel. “Looking Beyond Risk in Paroling Denying Prisoners. A Response to Assy and Menashe’s ‘The Catch-22 in Israel’s Parole Law’.” Criminal Justice and Behavior (early view; online first).

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0093854815589324

 

Abstract

This paper offers an additional theoretical perspective to the “Catch-22” problem as discussed in Assy and Menashe’s article, which appeared in the December 2014 issue of Criminal Justice and Behavior. It offers to look beyond risk in the discussion about parole of denying prisoners. By focusing on the retributive meaning of the problem, the paper offers an additional framework to discuss the magnitude of the problem (via proportionality analysis), and the overt and covert forces that influence a parole board’s discretion in action (via character retributivism analysis).

New Article: Einat et al, Abuse of Israeli and Palestinian Prisoners’ Human and Medical Rights

Einat, Tomer, Ofer Parchev, Anat Litvin, Niv Michaeli, and Gila Zelikovitz. “Who Knows Who Cares for Me. C’est La Vie: Abuse of Israeli and Palestinian Prisoners’ Human and Medical Rights—A Foucaultian Perspective.” Prison Journal (early view; online first).

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0032885515596524

 

Abstract

One fundamental measure of a liberal democracy concerns its guarantee of civil and health liberties to prisoners. The study examines the Israeli legislation regarding prisoners’ human rights and access to health services, and analyzes the reasons for the gap between the regulations and their de facto implementation. The main findings include the following: (a) A significant gap exists between the Israeli Prison Service formal regulations for prisoners’ civil and health rights and their actual implementation, and (b) the Israeli Prison Service and the Israeli legislation lack a pragmatic instrument aimed at the protection and preservation of Israeli inmates’ fundamental human rights.

New Article: Mor et al, HIV/AIDS Prevalence in Israeli Prisons: Is There a Need for Universal Screening?

Mor, Zohar, Jonathan R. Eisenberg, Itamar Grotto, and Dini Tishler-Aurkin. “HIV/AIDS Prevalence in Israeli Prisons: Is There a Need for Universal Screening?” Journal of Public Health Policy (early view; online first).

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/jphp.2015.21

 

Abstract

This study aimed to assess HIV/AIDS point-prevalence among inmates and evaluate costs related to universal screening as currently practiced and appraise its necessity. All inmates newly incarcerated in Israel (2003–2010) underwent HIV tests and their medical files were cross-matched the with the national HIV/AIDS registry to who had been newly infected and detected on prison entry. They were classified by key risk-groups. Of 108 866 new inmates during the period, 215 (0.2 per cent) were diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, 44 of those (0.04 per cent) were not aware of their infection. A large majority (94.2 per cent) of the infected inmates were members of a key-risk group: drug-users, homosexuals, or originating from a high-HIV prevalence country. The direct cost of detecting a single HIV-infected inmate who was not previously recorded was €12386. The HIV/AIDS-screening process can be improved by interviewing the new inmates and performing targeted HIV-testing for those who are members of a known risk-group. These data from Israel are pertinent to developed countries with low HIV prevalence, because they present a picture of all newly infected inmates over an 8-year period within the paradigm of a fully functional HIV surveillance system.

New Article: Livio, Constructions of Space in the Discourse of Israeli Military Refuseniks

Livio, Oren. “The Path of Least Resistance: Constructions of Space in the Discourse of Israeli Military Refuseniks.” Discourse, Context and Media (early view; online first).

 

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2015.02.002

 

Abstract

In this article I examine the ways in which Israeli soldiers who refuse to serve in the Occupied Territories use spatial representations and metaphors in discourse explaining their decision to refuse. Using Lefebvre’s (1995) framework regarding spaces of representation as sites of political struggle, I analyze how selective refuseniks construct the Territories as a space of pollution, irrationality, disorder and death, expressing fear that these qualities might contaminate Israeli space, and thus implicitly promoting a separatist logic of exclusion. Refuseniks employ metaphors of movement to portray the transition from ‘here’ to ‘there’ as a shift into an alternate universe, and attempt to appropriate hegemonic discursive conceptualizations associated with three culturally loaded spaces: the prison, the Jewish settlements, and Nazi Germany. The ambivalent dialectics of dominant and resistant ideologies in refuseniks’ discourse and their cultural implications are discussed.

 

Symposium: Private Sphere as Public Policy in Israel (Berkeley, Feb 17, 2015)

THE PRIVATE SPHERE AS PUBLIC POLICY?:

A Symposium on Law and Society in Israel

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2015

RECEPTION: 2:30; SYMPOSIUM 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM

GOLDBERG ROOM (297 BOALT HALL), BERKELEY LAW

INTRODUCTION

Jonathan Simon, Adrian A. Kragen Professor of Law; Director, CSLS

PRISON PRIVATIZATION

Hila Shamir, Associate Professor, Buchman Faculty of Law, Tel Aviv University

JUDGING IN THE SHADOW OF THE LAW: PRIVATE FORUMS AND PRIVATIZED ADJUDICATION IN ISRAEL

Ori Aronson, Assistant Professor, Bar-Ilan University Faculty of Law

‘I’VE GOT NO ONE TO LEAN ON’: THE NEGOTIATION OF NETWORK RELATIONS AMONG LOW-INCOME MOTHERS IN ISRAEL UNDER A NEOLIBERAL DISCOURSE

Shira Offer, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Bar-Ilan University

THE (LEGITIMACY) PRICE OF PRIVATIZED WELFARE

Avishai Benish, Assistant Professor, Paul Baerwald School of Social Work and Social Welfare, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

RESPONDENT

Malcolm Feeley, Claire Sanders Clements Dean’s Professor of Law

 

 

Click here for a PDF of the flyer.

Cite: Ganor and Falk, De-Radicalization in Israel’s Prison System

Ganor, Boaz and Ophir Falk. “De-Radicalization in Israel’s Prison System.” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 36.2 (2013): 116-31.

 

URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1057610X.2013.747071

 

Abstract

An effective de-radicalization process in prisons is intended to facilitate the renouncement of violence and terrorism by those that have carried out such offenses. A key lesson that can be drawn from Israel’s de-radicalization efforts is that it is possible, indeed recommended, to treat inmates—regardless of their level of radicalization—in a dignified and humane manner. However, Israel’s ability to significantly de-radicalize security prisoners is limited if it is at all existent in its current form. Security prisoners with the potential for positive change should be placed in a different, perhaps foreign setting. This article provides an overview of Israel’s prison system, the challenges it faces, its efforts to de-radicalize security inmates and suggests additional courses of action.

Cite: Peled & Navot, Private Incarceration – Towards a Philosophical Critique

Peled, Yoav and Doron Navot. “Private Incarceration – Towards a Philosophical Critique.” Constellations 19.2 (2012): 216-234.

URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8675.2012.00679.x/abstract