Olga Petintseva

Ghent University, Criminology, Criminal Law and Social Law, Post-Doc

Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Criminology, Faculty Member

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Critical criminologist. VUB/UGent - FWO
Research interests: critical and cultural/narrative criminology, qualitative research methods, social exclusion, institutional discrimination, legal anthropology - court ethnography, feminist criminology, discourse analysis, participatory action research.
Primary networks:
- CESSMIR (Centre for the Social Study of Migration and Refugees)
- European Society of Criminology
- Working Group on Qualitative Research Methodologies and Epistemologies (ESC)
- ASC Division on Critical Criminology
- Common Study Network in Critical Criminology
- Extreme Anthropology Network
- NGO SEER
Supervisors: Tom Decorte, Patrick Hebberecht, Fabienne Brion, Mary Christianakis, Rudi Roose, Laurent Bonelli, Kristel Beyens, and Freya Vander Laenen

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Muqtedar Khan

University of Delaware

Josiah Heyman

University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP)

Laco Toušek

University of West Bohemia

Don Ross

University College Cork

Benjamin Isakhan

Deakin University

Kristina Shull

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Armando Marques-Guedes

UNL - New University of Lisbon

Noe Cornago

University of the Basque Country, Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea

Yannis Hamilakis

Brown University

Nando Sigona

University of Birmingham

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Papers by Olga Petintseva

Interview Models and Researcher’s Self-Positioning

Interviewing Elites, Experts and the Powerful in Criminology, 2019

This chapter presents several interview models that can be applied while conducting interviews wi... more This chapter presents several interview models that can be applied while conducting interviews with the powerful. ‘Informal’ interviewing that often takes place in ethnographic contexts is outlined, as well as the ‘classical’ doxastic interviewing. We then move on to more specific interview models, such as the ‘looking glass’ model, where researcher positions herself or himself as a peer or even as a co-expert, ‘epistemic interviews’, which probe into the foundation for the judgments about situations, and ‘active’ interviewing models, in which the researcher assumes a rather critical role. All of these models will be discussed according to the type of knowledge they generate, interviewer’s self-positioning, the nature of interview interactions and interviewing styles.

Youth Justice and Migration

Their Reign, Their Game? Accessing the Powerful

Interviewing Elites, Experts and the Powerful in Criminology, 2019

The chapter delves into practical issues of respondent selection, and of finding and accessing ex... more The chapter delves into practical issues of respondent selection, and of finding and accessing expert and elite participants for research interviews. It discusses powerful participants' specificities and offers solutions for improving the chances of generating samples of respondents and collecting high-quality data. After addressing sampling techniques, it discusses (gaining and maintaining) access, including formal permissions and informal ways of contacting people; the role of gatekeepers; making your way through formal and informal hierarchies; ways of communicating with elites and experts, managing limited time frames, as well as presenting yourself and the research. Furthermore, the chapter discusses ethics and discretion while getting and maintaining access, especially informed consent, anonymity, recording the interview, transparency regarding the researcher's role and goals.

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Making Sense of the Data

Interviewing Elites, Experts and the Powerful in Criminology, 2019

Specificities regarding interviewing the powerful do not end once the recorder is switched off. T... more Specificities regarding interviewing the powerful do not end once the recorder is switched off. They persist when making sense of qualitative data, reflecting on potential drawbacks of strategies used, and when presenting research results. Therefore, this chapter provides an overview of specific attention points while analyzing EEI. We discuss topics such as: coding and transcribing; the relevance of considering the researcher as a situated actor, encouraging self-reflexivity and being explicit about self-positioning toward powerful actors; quality control, especially regarding authenticity, transparency, consistency and data and researcher triangulation; ethical concerns; and the issue of getting back to the participants after data collection.

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Misdaad en straf vandaag : manifest voor kritische criminologie

Approaching new migration through Elias’s ‘established’ and ‘outsiders’ lens

When considering social positions and features that become distinguishing for migrants’ positioni... more When considering social positions and features that become distinguishing for migrants’ positioning, scholars quite often rely on empirical descriptions, based on discrete and supposedly clearly definable factors. Whereas elements such as legal position, citizenship, etc. are of huge relevance in numerous contexts, in other domains relying on such delineations while studying discriminatory processes oversimplifies the picture. In this paper, a conceptual issue regarding the understandings of the positions of migrants (particularly recent migrations to the Western Europe) is raised. After a discussion of the definitions of ‘new migrations’, a broad heuristic device for thinking about ‘new’ migrants’ positioning will be outlined. This framework – inspired by Elias’ and Scotson’s ‘The Established and the Outsiders’ (1994 [1965]) – can be adapted in different manners by academics addressing topics related to definition, marginalization, and discriminatory processes. The central point is...

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The borders of punishment: migration, citizenship, and social exclusion

The Criminology of Mobility Introduction. Humanizing Migration Control and Detention PART I: CRIM... more The Criminology of Mobility Introduction. Humanizing Migration Control and Detention PART I: CRIMINALIZATION The Ordered and the Bordered Society: Migration Control, Citizenship, and the Northern Penal State Is the Criminal Law only for Citizens? A Problem at the Borders of Punishment The Process is the Punishment in Crimmigration Law The Troublesome Intersections of Refugee Law and Criminal Law PART II: POLICING Policing Transversal Borders The Criminalization of Human Mobility: A Case Study of Law Enforcement in South Africa Human Trafficking and Border Control in the Global South PART III: IMPRISONMENT Can Immigration Detention Centres be Legitimate? Understanding Confinement in a Global World Hubs and Spokes: The Transformation of the British Prison Seeing like a Welfare State: Immigration Control, Statecraft, and a Prison with Double Vision PART IV: DEPORTATION The Social Bulimia of Forced Repatriation: A Case Study of Dominican Deportees Deportation, Crime, and the Changing Character of Membership in the United Kingdom Democracy & Deportation: Why Membership Matters Most PART V: SOCIAL EXCLUSION Governing the Funnel of Expulsion: Agamben, the Dynamics of Force, and Minimalist Biopolitics People on the Move: From the Countryside to the Factory / Prison Epilogue. The Borders of Punishment: Towards a Criminology of Mobility

Conducting the Interview

Interviewing Elites, Experts and the Powerful in Criminology, 2019

This chapter presents practical clues and special considerations when conducting interviews with ... more This chapter presents practical clues and special considerations when conducting interviews with elites and experts, especially on sensitive topics including crime and crime control. We discuss the course of the interview and ways to improve the quality of the data collected. Dimensions covered here range from how to build interaction with interviewees; how to gain trust and establish rapport; power negotiations; managing impressions; maintaining control of the interview and avoiding ‘standard corporate answers’; dealing with participants’ questions and assumptions about researchers’ own knowledge and views; asking about sensitive topics; and the physical interview setting. As in other chapters, we offer ethical reflections, especially in relation to confidentiality and anonymity of participants. Lastly, online interviewing, which may prove especially useful for elite and expert participants, is addressed.

Patrick Hebberecht en de gestaalde kaders in de criminologie

When youth justice and migration intersect: 'Specialized' initiatives: building expertise or internal borders?

On criminological 'taboos': the academic discourse on migration and crime

Practising Youth Protection

Aside from the institutional performance as such, the practices discussed are sustained by fundam... more Aside from the institutional performance as such, the practices discussed are sustained by fundamental issues: societal inequalities, political underpinnings and the structure of youth justice, its insensitivity to diversity, and the broader discussions about ‘best interests’. For this reason, this chapter addresses the organisational, structural and ideological frames of youth justice: the primacy of practical reasoning above abstract goals, involving different ad hoc definitions of ‘protection’ and ‘best interests’. This is facilitated by the ambiguous welfare model, which is further discussed. While focusing on the Belgian situation, a link is made to the international context. I argue for reflexively revisiting protection ideals, and offer a critical reading of the increasingly dominant (legalistic) rights approach. Finally, the fact that, in this institutional landscape, different forms of ‘specialisation’ towards migrants and minorities have been developed is significant in th...

Roma-meisjes op de jeugdrechtbank : de professionele actoren binnen de jeugdbescherming aan het woord

Deze bijdrage handelt over Roma-meisjes die wegens een als misdrijf omschreven feit (MOF) voor de... more Deze bijdrage handelt over Roma-meisjes die wegens een als misdrijf omschreven feit (MOF) voor de jeugdrechtbank verschijnen. Onderzoek heeft aangetoond dat jeugd- beschermingsactoren deze meisjes als onbenaderbaar en als onbehandelbaar beschouwen. Dit resulteert in een tweesporenbeleid op de jeugdrechtbank: geen interventie of plaatsing in een gesloten instelling. In een eerder artikel lag de focus vooral op de wijze waarop deze meisjes werden omschreven in de jeugdrechtbankdos- siers door politie, maatschappelijk werkers, jeugdrechters en psychiaters. Deze bij- drage steunt op interviews met verschillende professionele actoren die in contact komen met deze Roma-meisjes in het jeugdbeschermingssysteem. We bekijken voor- eerst de visie van de actoren over deze meisjes en hun context. Verder gaan we ook in op hoe zij omgaan met deze dossiers en welke reactiewijzen zij als (in)adequaat beschouwen. Afsluiten doen we met een reflectie over het cultuur-centrische discours van de professi...

Patrick Hebberecht (1951-2015) : boegbeeld van de kritische criminologie

The moralising and constitutive nature of discourses of youth courts: zooming in on positioning of young migrants in delinquency cases

Interviewing Elites, Experts and the Powerful in Criminology

This book offers practical advice on designing, conducting and analyzing interviews with ‘elite’ ... more This book offers practical advice on designing, conducting and analyzing interviews with ‘elite’ and ‘expert’ persons (or ‘socially prominent actors’), with a focus on criminology and criminal justice. It offers dilemmas and examples of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ practices in order to encourage readers to critically asses their own work. It also addresses methodological issues which include: access, power imbalances, getting past ‘corporate answers’, considerations of whether or not it is at times acceptable to ask leading questions and whether to enter a discussion with a respondent at all. This book will be valuable to students and scholars conducting qualitative research.

‘Betrokken’ onderzoeksmethoden in criminologisch onderzoek

Tijdschrift over Cultuur & Criminaliteit, 2019

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Extreme Methods: Researching Deviance, Social Harm and Control

Journal of Extreme Anthropology, 2019

Given the particular sensitivities of much research on deviance, social harms and social control-... more Given the particular sensitivities of much research on deviance, social harms and social control-from accessing hidden or marginalized populations, researching sensitive topics and transgressive practices, to trying to acquire a deep understanding of lived experiences and phenomenology of crime and victimization-methodological discussions have been ongoing in this thematic field since its inception. In recent decades, developments in criminology, anthropology, sociology, political sciences, development studies, media studies, and other disciplines have instigated the use of a wide array of innovative methods. Critical, reflexive and original work has been done using ethnography, narrative, visual, sensory, participatory and online methods-to name but a few.

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Moral entrepreneurs in de 21ste eeuw

Tijdschrift over Cultuur & Criminaliteit, 2019

In zijn boek Outsiders. Studies in the sociology of deviance poneert Howard Becker (1963) dat str... more In zijn boek Outsiders. Studies in the sociology of deviance poneert Howard Becker (1963) dat strafbaarstellingen tot stand komen door een &#39;moral enterprise&#39;. Het individu, de groep (bijv. sociale bewegingen of belangengroepen) of de instelling die de morele onderneming voert, definieert hij als een &#39;morele ondernemer&#39;. Het prototype-maar niet de enige variant-van de morele ondernemer is de &#39;cru-sading reformer&#39;: de kruisvaarder die haar/zijn absolute morele overtuigingen aan andere leden van de samenleving wil opdringen en daarbij gedreven wordt door een zeker humanitarisme, omdat zij/hij gelooft dat het handelen volgens haar/ zijn morele overtuigingen mensen ten goede komt. De morele onderneming wordt dan ook opgezet vanuit een verontwaardiging over afwijkend gedrag. Wanneer moral entrepreneurs erin slagen om &#39;het probleem&#39; onder de publieke aandacht te brengen én wanneer zij over voldoende (politieke) macht beschikken, wordt deviant gedrag gecriminaliseerd. Becker illustreert het begrip &#39;morele ondernemer&#39; aan de hand van zijn analyse van de genese van de Marihuana Tax Act van 1937 in de Verenigde Staten. Volgens hem kwam deze drugswet tot stand door de morele onderneming die het Federal Bureau of Narcotics en meer bepaald zijn commissaris Anslinger heeft gevoerd. Het interactionistisch verhaal over moral entrepreneurs die vormgeven aan het labelingproces is inmiddels een klassieker geworden. De totstandkoming van (morele) betogen door rule creators en de wijze waarop rule enforcers de geldende regels toepassen en afdwingen (waarbij sommige groepen mensen als outsiders worden gelabeld) is een van de klassieke uitgangspunten binnen de deviantie-sociologie. Heel wat auteurs hebben gereflecteerd over de aard van &#39;morele ondernemingen&#39;. Zo stelt Donald Dickson (1968) bijvoorbeeld dat een morele onderneming door een bureaucratie in eerste instantie wordt opgezet vanuit de organisatorische noodzaak te blijven bestaan en zich te ontwikkelen-morele overwegingen spelen slechts een secundaire rol. Gusfield (1963) argumenteerde in zijn studie van de Amerikaanse Temperance movement, dat een strafbaarstelling het resultaat is van een symbolische kruistocht, opgezet door groepen wier sociale status bedreigd wordt omdat de conventionele normen ter discussie worden gesteld. Richard Posner (2009) ziet morele ondernemers op een andere manier: voor hem zijn het mensen die de macht hebben om onze morele intuïtie te transformeren. Dit gebeurt volgens hem op basis van betogen die eigenbelang centraal stellen (vaak doen zij hierbij een beroep op emotionele appeals en niet zozeer op de rede)-&#39;they teach us to love or hate whom they love or hate&#39; (Posner, 2009: 42). Tijdschrift over Cultuur en Criminaliteit 2018 (8) 3

‘Entextualisation’ Across Institutional Contexts: The Impact of Discourse in School Reports on the Juvenile Justice Trajectories of Roma Youth

Youth Justice, 2019

The school context has been found to be highly influential in youth justice assessments of young ... more The school context has been found to be highly influential in youth justice assessments of young people. Using Belgium as a case study and based on a study of court files and interviews with youth justice professionals, this article traces the significance of school-based information in decisions made on Roma youth. More specifically, it examines what these discourses communicate and how they shape young people’s correctional trajectories. The article argues that negative school experiences and discriminatory practices in education towards Roma are often reflected in youth justice professionals’ construction of the problems presented by Roma youth, albeit within a different discursive framing. The article draws on the notion of ‘entextualisation’ (extracting discourse from its original context and re-inserting it in another setting) and its consequences for young people from Roma backgrounds who come into conflict with the law.

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Interview Models and Researcher’s Self-Positioning

Interviewing Elites, Experts and the Powerful in Criminology, 2019