Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Immigration procedures'

This thesis is an historical account of the British government's regulation of the immigration to the United Kingdom of Jewish refugees in flight from Nazi persecution. The focus of the study is the administration of immigration controls, with particular emphasis on the groups of refugees for whom entry was possible and the conditions subject to which they were admitted. The administrative process is also examined in the context of policy. The results of the government's efforts to control the influx are set against policy goals, in order to assess both the extent to which the quest for control was successful, and the extent to which it led to unintended consequences. The relationship between policy and procedure is thus a key theme of this study. The bulk of the thesis is concerned with policy-making and administration within government, and is based on documents in the Public Record Office(PRO). Other sources used include private papers of ministers and officials, records of Jewish organisations, archives of refugee committees and interviews, listed in the bibliography. The material largely concerns the work of Whitehall departments, interdepartmental relations and activities at Cabinet-level. Home Office policy and practice are covered in particular detail. The contributions of other government departments, particularly the Foreign Office, the Ministry of Labour and the Treasury, are also discussed. Another important topic is the policy-making and administrative role of nongovernmental organisations, especially refugee committees. The introduction is followed by a chapter outlining the legal and administrative history of immigration control since 1905. succeeding chapters deal chronologically with the British response to the immigration of Jewish refugees from 1933 to 1942. The conclusion discusses whether British policy was humanitarian or self-interested. Two appendixes contain brief biographical notes on persons relevant to the thesis and a list of Home Secretaries and Home Office Permanent Under Secretaries.

The aim of this research is to examine the impact of UKs immigration policies and procedures on asylum seekers and ‘illegal’ migrants. The study investigates the ways in which ‘risks’ have been proffered as a justification to contain and control this group of individuals. Those claiming asylum are increasingly subjected to a complex set of rules and legislation, and their access to the welfare state and labour market is severely restricted, if not completely denied. Individuals are increasingly pushed into a bureaucratic limbo in which they are rendered destitute and stateless. This Thesis draws upon asylum seekers’ and ‘illegal’ migrants’ experiences of living in this empty space and shows the ways in which they have used their agency to ‘resist’ and overcome the controls that render them as ‘bare-life’. The study employs a qualitative methodology which includes in-depth interviews with twenty two asylum seekers and six specialist practitioners. The conclusion reveals a constant struggle against the status quo and dissent against abusive state power.

Naturalisation procedures through which states symbolically and legally recognise noncitizens as citizens offer the most secure legal status for migrants and a means for them to evade global inequalities in the world system of nation-states. This study critically examines contemporary citizenship admission procedures in the UK and Germany following the introduction of citizenship tests, courses and ceremonies in the early 2000s. Based on a multi-sited state ethnography of both countries, this thesis argues that naturalisation does not simply separate citizens by discretionary application from citizens by automatic right of birth. Rather, citizenship admission procedures suggest a specific subjectivity, the Super Citizen, insofar as ‘new’ German and British citizens are expected to become a political, economic and cultural asset to the state. This study thus conceptualises naturalisation processes as a specific subject-formation regime created through particular problematisations, rationalities, authorities and techniques as institutionalised by the state. The analysis begins with a brief reconstruction of the genealogy of naturalisation in Britain and Germany, focussing on the emergence of the distinction between nationals and ‘aliens’ or ‘foreigners’, respectively, as well as on the legal mechanisms put in place to differentiate their access to full membership. Using a thematic analysis of qualitative interviews, observations and official documents, the study then tracks contemporary citizenship applications in four research locations in the two countries. It visits ceremony halls, classrooms and naturalisation offices and considers the perspective of a range of actors involved in citizenship admission procedures. This includes those who implement naturalisation on behalf of the state such as officials, legal advisers, teachers, politicians, and guest speakers, as well as the lived experience of the citizenship applicants themselves. The thesis concludes that naturalisation procedures in both the UK and in Germany produce the Super Citizen as a particular, neoliberal and neonational subjectivity that holds newly naturalized citizens responsible for developing a new nationalism.

According to the Department of Homeland Security, Office of Immigration Statistic, California accounts for approximately 2,600,000 illegal immigrants in 2009. This number represents about 25 percent of the entire estimated illegal immigrant population in the United States, which is roughly 10.8 million. Between 2003 and 2008, the U.S. government removed 1,446,338 noncitizens from the United States. This rise in deportation is a result o the changes that have been enacted by the federal government over the years that transformed the nature of immigration enforcement. This thesis explores the California Immigration Enforcement system from the programs established to apprehend illegal aliens in the United States, the rights illegal aliens are granted, the detention facilities where they reside and the immigration courts that ultimately decide their fate. The question that is being asked is whether the current system established works or if reform is needed.

Esta pesquisa analisa a presença de imigrantes sírios e libaneses no Acre, a partir de duas perspectivas distintas. Na primeira, partimos da análise das memorias reminiscentes de dois descendentes da segunda geração de imigrantes, cujas narrativas, reconstituem a trajetória de vida de seus pais, descrevendo as estratégias e os arranjos sociais necessários para conviverem, se estabelecerem e se integrarem à sociedade acolhedora. As narrativas demonstram o entrelaçamento entre o discurso idealizado sobre a memória dos antepassados com a história de vida dos próprios narradores. Na segunda abordagem, pesquisamos em fontes judiciais elementos que demonstrassem a interação dos imigrantes, enquanto grupo, com a sociedade local. Para tanto, analisamos os processos post mortem para compreendermos o perfil dos imigrantes no Acre: como viviam; se casados ou solteiros; em que trabalhavam; como o grupo interagia internamente e com a sociedade local; como morriam; qual o patrimônio que conseguiram formar ao longo da vida; quem era beneficiado com heranças. Nos Inquéritos Policiais e Processos Criminais, analisamos a interação entre homens sírios e libaneses com mulheres brasileiras, e a forma como delitos impactantes (estupros, defloramento e espancamentos) praticados por estes imigrantes contra mulheres locais eram encarados pela sociedade e pelo poder público.
This research analyses the presence of the Syrian and Lebanese immigrants in Acre (Brazil), from two different perspectives. In first perspective, we start from the analysis of two descendants of the second generation of immigrants reminiscent memories, whose narratives recount the life trajectory of their parents, describing strategies and the social arrangements needed to mingle, settle and integrate into the welcoming society. The narratives demonstrate the intertwining between the idealized discourse on the memory of their ancestors with the life story of the own narrators. In the second approach, we research judicial sources elements that demonstrate the interaction of immigrants as a group with the local society. To this end, we examined post mortem procedures to understand the profile of immigrants in Acre: how they lived; if they were married or single; which were their jobs; how they interacted internally and with the local society; how they died; what equity they could form over the life; who was benefited with inheritances. In the Police Investigations and Criminal Prosecutions, we analyze the interaction between Syrian and Lebanese men with Brazilian women, and how impactful delicts (rape, deflowering and beatings) practiced by these immigrants against local women were regarded by society and by the Government.

The overall aim of the thesis is to explore legislators’ perceptions of unaccompanied children in the development of migration law, and how case-officers transform the policy in arguments for and against residency in asylum-cases. More specifically, this thesis explores how Swedish legislators experienced parliamentary work when putting in place the 2005 Aliens Act and the new system for appeals and procedures. In addition, it explores legislators understanding of the concept of unaccompanied minors, and how the Swedish Migration Agency (SMA) case-officers understand unaccompanied minors’ credibility. It draws on interview data with 15 legislators of the Swedish parliament and an analysis of 916 decisions in asylum cases concerning unaccompanied minors. The thesis is theoretically informed by interpretative phenomenology and social constructionism. The method used builds on detailed coding procedures in qualitative social research as they are applied in interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), thematic analysis and text analysis. Study 1 examines the experiences of 15 legislators when negotiating migration reform in parliament. The findings indicate that the preceding political negotiations can be one of the reasons for unclear aims when politicians’ propose new legislation. In addition, it seems that other policy areas, such as fiscal considerations and state-municipality relations, took precedence in the negotiations when the legislators were attempting to make sense of their experiences in discussing asylum policy. Study 2 explores legislators’ perceptions of unaccompanied minors arriving in Sweden. The findings show that chronological age is a key reference point concerning how legislators understand unaccompanied minors’ claims for asylum and other needs. In addition, the findings suggest that legislators perceive unaccompanied minors as an ambivalent category and that this understanding is influenced by deep-rooted welfare ideology. Furthermore, the findings indicate that legislators develop policy concerning unaccompanied children without considering that they need to be recognised as individuals with different backgrounds, agendas and needs. Study 3 scrutinises how SMA case-officers construct unaccompanied minors credibility in asylum decisions. It shows that case-officers use similar techniques both when approving and rejecting decisions. These techniques consistently question the competence and political agency of the chid in such a way that the element of individual assessment in asylum procedure can become severely restricted. In brief, this thesis identifies that the connection between migration and child policy is complex as legislators appear to struggle with “drawing the limits” of who to include or exclude in policy aims. Hence, the juridical field was seen as the answer to improve legitimation. This also means that the concept of asylum has become de-politicised. In addition, case-officers also seem to use a limited repertoire of arguments when drawing the limits for unaccompanied minors’ credibility in asylum decisions. This thesis points to possible dilemmas in asylum policy and procedure concerning unaccompanied minors.

At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 1: Accepted. Paper 3: Manuscript.

Il presente lavoro intende analizzare la disciplina comunitaria in materia di rimpatrio concentrandosi sulla Direttiva 2008/115 recante norme e procedure comuni applicabili negli Stati membri al rimpatrio di cittadini di paesi terzi il cui soggiorno è irregolare, cd. Direttiva Rimpatri. Lo studio di questa misura è particolarmente interessante perché si tratta della prima proposta legislativa in materia di immigrazione a cui è stata applicata la procedura di codecisione. Tale procedura, prevedendo una posizione di parità fra Parlamento e Consiglio, e non più quest’ultimo come unico detentore del potere legislativo, viene considerata più “democratica”. Infatti il Parlamento europeo, istituzione particolarmente attenta al tema della protezione dei diritti fondamentali, non è più solamente consultato ma riveste il ruolo di co-legislatore. Sarà dunque interessante studiare, attraverso l’analisi comparativa del testo proposto e del testo finale della Direttiva tenendo conto anche degli obiettivi di protezione dei diritti fondamentali fissati negli atti comunitari che ne hanno preceduto la presentazione, se e come l’applicazione di questa procedura influenzi la redazione di norme comunitarie che riguardano i diritti e lo status dei cittadini dei paesi terzi nell’Unione europea. La Direttiva Rimpatri rappresenta altresì il test case per valutare il funzionamento di questa procedura dal punto di vista della composizione degli interessi contrastanti. La codecisione, infatti, prevedendo la regola della maggioranza, viene considerata più adatta, rispetto al meccanismo vigente basato sull’unanimità, al rapido raggiungimento di un accordo per l’adozione di misure vincolanti sui temi più dibattuti e oggetto di forti contrastati in sede europea. L’esame dettagliato dello svolgimento delle negoziazioni per l’adozione di questa misura permetterà la verifica dei tempi e dei modi di raggiungimento dell’accordo. Da tale analisi si potrà inoltre trarre conclusioni utili all’esame delle prospettive e tendenze legislative europee con riferimento alle prossime proposte di direttiva in materia di immigrazione.

The research problem this dissertation addresses is how judicial practices generate administrative justice in asylum determination procedures. Previous research on immigration policies argues that when asylum determinations are processed in courts, principles of administrative justice are ensured and immigrants’ rights protected. In this dissertation, I challenge that argument by approaching administrative justice as an empirical phenomenon open for different types of interpretations. Instead of assuming that administrative justice characterizes courts, I assume that this concept acquires particular meanings through the practices of the courts. Empirically, this dissertation studies practices of assessing asylum claims at the Swedish migration courts. The migration courts are the result of a major reform of the Swedish asylum procedure that took place in 2006, with the motive to end inhumane rejections of asylum seekers by enhancing administrative justice in the asylum process. By interviewing and observing judges at the migration courts, litigators from the Migration Board and public counsels from different law firms, this interpretive and ethnographic study analyzes how administrative justice acquires meanings in the daily practices of assessing asylum claims at the migration courts. The main result is that a ceremonial version of administrative justice is generated at the migration courts. This version of administrative justice forefronts symbolic dimensions of justice. The asylum appeal procedure succeeds in communicating justice through rituals, building design and metaphors, which emphasize objectivity, impartiality and certainty on behalf of the judicial practices. However, these symbols of justice disguise several unfair aspects of the asylum appeal procedure, such as inequality in resources and trustworthiness between the state’s representative and the asylum applicants as well as the uncertainty inherent in both the factual and the credibility assessment of asylum claims. The implications of these findings are that immigration policy research needs to reconsider the relationship between the courts and immigrants’ rights by paying more attention to the everyday practices of ensuing administrative justice in courts than on the instances when courts oppose political attempts to restrict immigrants’ rights.

La France a mis en place en juillet 2015 une réforme en vue de transposer le nouveau « paquet asile » européen alors que le Canada a renforcé depuis décembre 2012 ses procédures d’asile en adoptant des changements ayant essentiellement pour objet de lutter contre les abus du système d’asile canadien. En s’orientant vers des politiques dissimulées visant les expulsions expéditives des demandeurs d’asile déboutés et des personnes indignes de la protection, la France et le Canada, connus en tant que terre d’asile, respectent-ils toujours leur obligation international du non-refoulement ? Cette thèse s’appuie sur les lois en vigueur des deux États notamment le Code de l’entrée et du séjour des étrangers et du droit d’asile (France) et la Loi sur l’immigration et la protection des réfugiés (Canada), les jurisprudences nationales et internationales, et les textes internationaux. Elle met en lumière les pratiques et législations nationales relatives à l’octroi de l’asile et à l’éloignement des demandeurs d’asile et des réfugiés qui peuvent ou pourraient porter atteinte au principe de non-refoulement, tel que consacré par le droit international des réfugiés ainsi que par le droit international des droits de l’homme
In July 2015, France adopted an asylum reform bill in order to transpose the EU asylum legislative package. In comparison, Canada has, since 2012, strengthened its national asylum procedures by introducing a number of changes with the objective of preventing the abuse of Canada’s inland refugee determination system. In moving towards hidden policies aimed at the efficiency of removals of failed refugee claimants and persons unworthy of international protection, are France and Canada, known as safe havens, respecting their international obligations of Non-Refoulement ? This thesis focuses on the laws in force in both States in particular the Code of the Entry and Stay of Foreigners and Asylum Law (France) and the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (Canada), national and international jurisprudence, and other relevant international documents. The present study aims at highlighting the national legislations and practices relating to the grant of asylum and the expulsion of asylum seekers and refugees which violate or could violate the Principle of Non-Refoulement as enshrined in both International Refugee Law and International Human Rights Law

El trabajo consiste en un estudio del control penal del fenómeno migratorio. La hipótesis de partida indica que la migración se está “gestionando” a través de instrumentos punitivos, antes que de integración social, lo que provoca una elevada criminalización y exclusión social de los inmigrantes extracomunitarios. La tesis se estructura en tres grandes partes: la primera dedicada a la historia del pensamiento criminológico respecto a los migrantes; la segunda a las investigaciones contemporáneas sobre discriminación racial en el sistema penal; y la tercera al análisis socio-jurídico de la normativa de control de la inmigración en España. Se parte de la premisa que el sistema penal no persigue todos los delitos cometidos sino tan sólo una pequeña parte que selecciona en base a factores muy variados, los cuales a menudo implican el ejercicio de discriminación racial, tanto imputable a actividades individuales de los operadores como a factores institucionales del sistema penal y estructurales de la sociedad. Se intenta demostrar que el funcionamiento discriminatorio del sistema penal no es atribuible tan sólo a la actividad de sus instancias de aplicación –criminalización secundaria-. La ley penal tiene un papel fundamental de definición de los delitos y las penas -criminalización primaria-; a la vez que las leyes de control de los flujos migratorios, que confieren a la inmigración irregular un estatus cuasi-delictivo y un tratamiento represivo, atribuyen fundamento legal a la discriminación de los extranjeros y contribuyen a su mayor criminalización. Del carácter discriminatorio de las leyes de control de los flujos migratorios se ocupa la última parte de la Tesis, intentando mostrar que se ha optado por una opción eminentemente represiva respecto al proceso migratorio, donde los mecanismos de repatriación, expulsión e internamiento son utilizados como instrumentos ordinarios de “gestión” de los flujos migratorios.
The work is a study of penal control of migration. The hypothesis suggests that migration is "managing" through punitive instruments, rather than social integration, which causes a high criminalization and social exclusion of non-EU immigrants. The thesis is divided into three main parts: the first dedicated to the history of criminological thought about migrants; the second to contemporary research on racial discrimination in the criminal justice system; and the third to socio-legal analysis of the rules of immigration control in Spain. It starts from the premise that the penal system does not pursue all crimes but only a small portion selected based on varied factors, which often involve the exercise of racial discrimination, both attributable to individual activities of operators as institutional and structural factors of the penal system of society. It tries to prove that the discriminatory functioning of the criminal justice system is not attributable only to the activity of its application instances-criminalization secondarily. The criminal law has a fundamental role definition of offenses and penalties primary- -criminalization; while laws controlling migration flows, illegal immigration confer a quasi-criminal status and repressive treatment, they attribute legal basis for discrimination against foreigners and contribute to greater criminalization. The discriminatory nature of the laws controlling migration flows last part of the thesis deals, trying to show that it has chosen an eminently repressive option regarding the migration process, where the mechanisms of repatriation, expulsion and detention are used as instruments ordinary "management" of migratory flows.

Cette étude sociologique propose une analyse comparée de l'institution française (l'OFPRA) et allemande (le BAMF) chargées de l'instruction des demandes d'asile. L'enquête de terrain réalisée en leur sein a permis une description détaillée des pratiques administratives encadrant le processus d'élaboration des décisions sur les dossiers de demande. Des différences notables s'observent tant au niveau du profil socioprofessionnel des agents instructeurs de chacune des deux institutions nationales qu'à propos des attitudes générales de ces derniers face à la problématique de l'asile. Au-delà de ces différences, une remise en doute et une profonde méfiance face aux déclarations des demandeurs d'asile constituent une constante dans leur pratique professionnelle. L'importance que l'institution attribue à la question de la crédibilité des récits d'asile confère un pouvoir discrétionnaire significatif aux agents administratifs et laisse une place importante à l'intime conviction dans le processus décisionnel. La délicate communication avec les demandeurs et l'application parfois malaisée des textes de loi nationaux et internationaux aux problématiques présentées par ces derniers imprègnent l'instruction des dossiers d'une grande incertitude. L'analyse de la relation administrative entre demandeurs et décideurs permet finalement d'identifier la méfiance réciproque et le décalage entre les catégories juridiques et la réalité des migrations contemporaines comme deux problèmes centraux des dispositifs d'asile français et allemand.

Defence date: 13 July 2017
Examining Board: Professor Loïc Azoulai, EUI Supervisor; Professor Marise Cremona, EUI; Associate Professor Evelien Brouwer, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Professor Daniel Wilsher, City University of London
This research considers State control and legal responsibility for the violation of migrant’s fundamental rights at the hands of privatised or externalised procedures of European Union (EU) Member State migration control and border management. The assertion is made that a migrant’s access to justice can be frustrated based on who (privatisation) it is that is implementing the procedure or because of where (externalisation) it is being implemented. Access to justice is frustrated by the failure of a court to overcome certain key preliminary issues which must be established before the merits of the case – the alleged rights violation – can be considered. These preliminary issues therefore represent triggers for greater consideration of State legal responsibility. Privatisation’s trigger is a court’s potential application of a narrow reading of the State such that a private actor is deemed to be liable for rights violations arising out of the implementation of a procedure. This decision can be made even when the State holds a significant amount of control and authority over the implementation of the procedure in question. Externalisation’s trigger is that a court may pursue a restrictive reading of extraterritorial jurisdiction such that the State is not interpreted as having engaged its jurisdiction and as a result that court will not consider the alleged violations and thus legal responsibility will not be established. The State’s exercise of ‘compulsory powers’, the use of physical force in the implementation of a migration control and border management procedure, has been relied upon as the indicator as to whether legal responsibility should be triggered for the State. This research argues that the exercise of compulsory powers is an arbitrary tool by which to decide legal responsibility and results in the neglect of other, more subtle indicators that State legal responsibility should be established. In the absence of a silver bullet resolution to the challenges posed by the triggers of legal responsibility for both externalisation and privatisation, doctrinal solutions are proposed. These solutions enable the courts to provide easier access to justice for migrants and better reflect State legal responsibility for the State’s exercise of control.
Chapter 3 ‘The distance explored I – Externalization' and Chapter 1 ‘Control and legal responsibility for externalised and privatised procedures' of the PhD thesis draw upon an earlier version published as an article 'Member State responsibility for migration control within third states : externalisation revisited' (2013) in the journal ‘European journal of migration and law’
Chapter 2 ‘Externalisation and privatisation - the procedures' of the PhD thesis draws upon an earlier version published as an article 'Do good fences make good neighbours?' (2014) in the journal ‘This century's review : journal for rational legal debate’

L’integrazione dei migranti è una sfida politica centrale nei Paesi europei, compresa l'Italia, dove il fenomeno dell'immigrazione è ormai strutturale e in continua crescita. La strategia Europa 2020 e il programma di Stoccolma hanno riconoscono tutte le potenzialità dell'immigrazione ai fini di un'economia sostenibile e competitiva, individuando come chiaro obiettivo politico la reale integrazione degli immigrati. Allo stesso tempo l'Agenda Digitale Europea mette in evidenza come l’e-government sia una leva di primaria importanza per dare risposta alle nuove domande di democrazia e di qualità dei servizi e come il suo sviluppo permetta di dare vita a una nuova PA capace di operare in base a criteri di efficacia, efficienza, trasparenza, economicità e democrazia. In questo contesto la tesi si è posta l'obiettivo di indagare come l'e-government possa supportare il diritto di accesso alle informazioni giuridiche e amministrative da parte di tutti i cittadini, attraverso la progettazione di una metodologia a sostegno della redazione di testi istituzionali trasparenti, chiari, comunicativi e idonei alle odierne società interculturali, nonché idonei alla loro diffusione tramite il web. Quest'obiettivo è stato perseguito incentrando il lavoro di ricerca sul dominio dei procedimenti amministrativi in materia di immigrazione, indirizzati, quindi, all'utenza rappresentata dai cittadini stranieri. Questo perché la presenza dei cittadini stranieri nella società può essere una leva per facilitare l'accesso all'informazione istituzionale per tutti i cittadini, soprattutto se si considera il migrante, in quanto nuovo cittadino, come “grado zero” della competenza nelle regole della comunicazione pubblica. La progettazione degli strumenti di supporto alla produzione di testi istituzionali si è avvalsa di una specifica metodologia che, da un lato, ha tenuto conto di strumenti teorici generali per la scrittura amministrativa chiara ed efficace e per la redazione di contenuti web usabili, dall’altro si è avvalsa di tecniche partecipative che hanno coinvolto stakeholder e utenti stranieri al fine di elaborare linee guida specifiche per la redazioni di testi istituzionali idonei alle società multiculturali. I risultati ottenuti sono stati ottenuti sono stati poi sistematizzati anche al fine del loro utilizzo e sviluppo continuo attraverso l’uso di piattaforme collaborative.

碩士
開南大學
觀光運輸學院碩士在職專班
102
The quality of tourist service is a highly valued issue in airport modernization. According to the statistics made by Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, there were up to 14,487,337 inward passengers during the year of 2013, thus the capacity for increase of passenger became a challenge to take. Using inward passengers as example, this paper adopts SERVQUAL model and Questionnaire Survey to evaluate the perceived value and customer satisfaction among inbound clearance procedure in both Terminal 1 and 2 of the airport. The conclusions are as follows: The differences between satisfactions from personal experiences, characteristics of airport, situational factors and other personal factors are mainly affected by frequency of traveling abroad, mood, environment and completeness of service function. This paper aims to provide a framework for relating work units to elevate the quality of inbound clearance service during construction of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport Terminal 3.

La stima dell’età è un elemento importante in ambito medico-legale, connesso sia a questioni legali che sociali. L’età è un fattore determinante per l’identificazione di un corpo: costituisce un elemento per la ricostruzione del profilo biologico, che verrà poi confrontato con i dati disponibili per le persone scomparse. Nella nostra società alcuni diritti e alcune tutele sono direttamente correlate con l’età anagrafica della persona; serve una specifica età per votare, per sposarsi, per lavorare, per ottenere la patente di guida, e soprattutto per essere considerati legalmente degli adulti. Nei soggetti in vita, l’età è determinante anche nei casi di imputabilità o responsabilità criminale, di pedopornografia e di adozione, ma è anche relazionata al fenomeno dell’immigrazione. Negli ultimi anni infatti, c’è stato un incremento proprio delle richieste di accertamento dell’età sulle persone in vita, dovuto all’aumento degli immigrati giunti nei nostri paesi privi di documenti. L’accertamento dell’età può essere richiesto dalle autorità proprio in riferimento alle domande di asilo. La legislazione europea assicura protezione ai “minori non accompagnati”, cioè a quei minori che arrivano sul suolo europeo soli, senza la figura di riferimento di un adulto. La corretta determinazione dell’età è quindi un elemento centrale per la protezione: solo se identificati, i minori possono essere protetti. In questo specifico ambito d’applicazione, l’accertamento dell’età può avere ripercussioni notevoli sulla vita di un migrante: se riconosciuto come minore il soggetto ha il diritto di restare, diversamente, la procedura prevede il respingimento alla frontiera ed il rimpatrio. In Italia, così come in Europa, la soglia d’età che separa i minorenni dagli adulti è quella dei diciotto anni; ma oltre a questa possono esistere altre soglie d’età, come ad esempio la Minimal Age of Criminal Responsability (MACR). Questa particolare soglia d’età riconosce ai soggetti minorenni, anche se ritenuti responsabili di un crimine, il diritto di essere giudicati da una corte per i minori. Una delle sfide della pratica forense dell’accertamento riguarda la necessità di assicurare nuovi e validi standard di riferimento, basati sullo studio di popolazioni attuali. Infatti gli studi che vengono utilizzati come riferimento sono basati sull’analisi di popolazioni europee o nord americane e i dati raccolti sono riferiti a studi di più di cinquant’anni fa. Per questo motivo attualmente le metodologie sviluppate in passato vengono applicate allo studio di popolazioni attuali, proprio al fine di ottenere dati aggiornati utili al confronto: una metodologia si applica ad una determinata popolazione per valutare quanto precisi ed accurati possano essere i risultati. Nell’ambito dell’AgEstimation Project, supportato dall’Istituto di Medicina Legale dell’Università di Macerata, a partire dal 204, l’equipe coordinata dal Dott. Roberto Cameriere ha presentato nuove metodologie per la stima dell’età, sviluppando formule specifiche e testando queste formule in diverse popolazioni. Le metodologie sviluppate prevedono l’analisi e la misurazione delle ossa carpali e dell’area del carpo nelle radiografie della mano di soggetti infantili e la misurazione dello sviluppo del terzo molare per la valutazione dell’età dei soggetti giovanili. Questa seconda tecnica prevede il calcolo dell’indice del terzo molare: se tale indice risulta minore del valore 0.08, preso come valore di riferimento, il soggetto viene considerato un adulto. L’ultima tecnica analizzata in questa ricerca permette di stimare l’età nei soggetti adulti, sfruttando il fenomeno dell’apposizione della dentina secondaria. Si tratta di un fenomeno continuo, che determina la riduzione della cavità pulpare dei denti, dove questa dentina si deposita. In pratica i giovani adulti hanno una camera pulpare larga, mentre i soggetti senili presentano una cavità pulpare molto più stretta. La tecnica prevede la rilevazione di misure specifiche del dente utilizzando una radiografia panoramica, utilizzate anche per la tecnica che valuta lo sviluppo del terzo molare. In questo progetto di ricerca, queste tre metodologie sono state applicate a tre diversi campioni.