SG3092 Border Criminology: Critical and Comparative Perspectives Assessment Brief 2026

SG3092 Assessment Brief

The assessment for this module is a 2,500 word critical review. Students will be asked to critically review and analyse one of the module’s core case studies using key concepts from two weeks of the module.

Please choose a primary source for critical review from the list below:

What is a critical review?

A critical review is a detailed analysis and evaluation of a text or other primary source. In this assessment, being ‘critical’ does not mean to criticize the primary source in an exclusively negative manner. Rather, the aim of critical analysis is to evaluate the information presented in your chosen primary source to better understand the intended argument or message of that source.

A key function of a critical review is to evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, and potential biases of your chosen primary source. Consider the following questions:

• What kinds of information or evidence does the source present to the audience?
• What is the key argument or message of the source?
• Are the important pieces of evidence or information that are not included?

In this assessment, a key focus of the critical review will be to analyze your chosen source using key concepts discussed during at least two of the weeks of the module. Consider the following questions:

• How does the primary source you have chosen frame the issues of border control and criminal justice?
• How might the concepts discussed during the module (e.g. bordered penality, welfare nationalism, border externalization, etc) help us to better understand and analyze the primary source you have chosen?

Key elements of the assessment work

To meet the marking criteria, it is important that your written work for this assessment contains a few key elements:

• Introduction – introduce the topic, identify the primary source and key concepts you have chosen, summarize/outline your overall argument.
• Contextualize and summarize your chosen primary source – briefly summarize the topic and context of the primary source.
• Critically evaluate primary source – evaluate the information and key arguments or messages of your chosen source
• Apply concepts from the module – use the research (e.g. core readings) and concepts we have discussed during the module to explain and critique the primary source you have chosen.
• Conclusion – briefly summarize and conclude your argument.

References and word limit –

Please use in-line citations in the Harvard Referencing Style for this assessment. The word limit is 2,500 (10% over/under rule applies).

Borders Essay Plan

This essay seeks to grapple Diane Taylor’s article on Ibrahima Bah, an illegal immigrant who was sentenced for the death of his fellow migrants on a boat despite not  killing them(Taylor,2024).Through the work of Charles Clarke(2006),Katija Franko(2014) and Parmar(2019)this essay will stand to the fact  that the harsh treatment of Ibrahima Bah is reflective of the erosion of  the humanisation of migrants and their experiences often created by Western interference in their original state. It has become increasingly clear that western states are utilising criminal justice systems and intuitions to criminalise migration in order assert their hegemony, presenting migration as a security issue when criminalising migration is about reinforcing the issue that foreigners are criminal.

Para 1 :

(Taylor,2024) firstly amplifies the abhorrent conditions that migrants are willing to face to reach western borders but also highlights how western states place more of an emphasis on criminalising migrants who are vulnerable rather than smuggling groups.

-own analysis -that focusing on migrants rather than smugglers makes the efforts to reduce illegal migration futile as smugglers will continue as they know there is no accountability for them in the criminal justice system showing justice system doesn’t want to stop the issue.

-Supported by (Parmar,2019) who argues that the interconnectedness of normal police and migration officers(Operation Nexus) has been catalytic in the links between race, nationality and crime which means that people who may be perceived as “foreigners” (ethnic minorities) even if they are British Citizens.

• (Parmar,2019) point supports the idea from(Taylor,2024)that the issue of harsh migration laws is based on racial bias rather than upholding security because even British citizens of ethnic minorities are subject to similar treatment by the criminal justice system

Para2:

Across the article by (Taylor,2024) there is an emphasis on the dehumanisation of Bah and other migrants as they are often victims of war and destruction that states such as the UK have caused e.g 35,000 migrants settled in the UK from Afghanistan between 2021-2025(Home Office,2025) which was a state the UK government chose to be apart therefore can’t be surprised at the rise of migration or blame the migrants.

-This viewpoint is mirrored by (Franko,2014) who purpurates the idea that globalisation has been catalytic in the growing harsh laws on migration. Idea of ‘precarious membership’ whereby the value of an individual in society is measured by the citizenship status(Franko,2014).Furthermore (Franko,2014)highlights a two tier system whereby citizens are humanised and non-citizens dehumanised, the borderline penalty means that punishment e.g the punishment of Ibrahima Bah is designed to outcast migrants thought border security rather than including them in society.

-Supports (Taylor,2024) arguments who highlights the lack of legal representation for migrants e.g Ibrahim Bah as mechanism of asserting control over migrants and dehumanizing them.

Para3:

(Taylor,2024) places emphasis on the harsh treatment of migrants because of strict legislation but doesn’t place emphasis on solutions.

-In comparison (Clarke,2006) upholds a more balanced argument arguing that law is important in maintaining social order therefore borderline punishment is needed to an extent to enforce order but also understands the importance of prevention strategies whereas (Taylor,2024) dismisses the fact that border laws are still important.

-(Taylor,2024) highlights that most migrants come from regions of conflict but doesn’t highlight if states such as the UK weren’t as involved in wars across the globe which leave them displaced less migrants would come to the UK therefore wouldn’t be need these strict laws.

-The research by (Taylor,2024) doesn’t use much quantitative data to further validate the points made (However finding quantitative data on this topic is difficult).

-(Taylor,2024) doesn’t understand the support for stricter migration laws and the dehumanisation of migrants is because of media coverage e.g the headline “Smuggling gangs have taken hold, Cooper says during border debate” (Francis, 2025) which evokes fear into citizens based on inaccurate information-if more people understood the threat of migrants was hyperbolised they wouldn’t perceive migrants as criminal.

Bibliography:

Aas, K. F. (2014). Bordered penality: Precarious membership and abnormal justice. Punishment & Society, 16(5), 520-541.

Francis, S. (2025). Borders bill: Smuggling gangs ‘taken hold’, says Yvette Cooper. BBC News. [online] 10 Feb. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyn95eynwko.

Home Office. (2025). How many people come to the UK via safe and legal (humanitarian) routes? [online] GOV.UK. Available https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-statistics-year-ending-june-2025/how-many-people-come-to-the-uk-via-safe-and-legal-humanitarian-routes?utm_source

Parmar, A. (2019). Arresting (non) citizenship: the policing migration nexus of nationality, race and criminalization. Theoretical Criminology, 24(1), 28–49.

Taylor, D. (2024). Ibrahima Bah was sentenced to nine years for steering a ‘death trap’ dinghy across the Channel. Was he really to blame?. The Guardian. [online] 12 Mar. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/mar/12/ibrahima-bah-teenage-asylum-seeker-manslaughter.

The post SG3092 Border Criminology: Critical and Comparative Perspectives Assessment Brief 2026 appeared first on Students Assignment Help UK.