Gavin Slade
Nazarbayev University, Sociology and Anthropology, Faculty Member
- University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, School of Social Work and Social Policy, Department Memberadd
- Organized Crime, Sociology of prison life, Post-Soviet Studies, Russia, Criminology, Sociology, and 26 moreCriminal Justice, Immigrant Detention, GULAG, South Caucasus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Mafia, Crime, China, Triads, Cosa nostra, Organised Criminal Groups South Caucasus, Post-Soviet Regimes, Transnational Organized Crime, Caucasus, Prisons, Russian Studies, Stalin and Stalinism, Corruption, Eastern European Studies, Kyrgyzstan, Post-Communist Studies, Soviet History, North Caucasus, and Sociology of Crime and Devianceedit
- I'm interested in applying the insights of analytical sociology and criminology to problems of crime and transition i... moreI'm interested in applying the insights of analytical sociology and criminology to problems of crime and transition in an international perspective. Particularly, the themes I am interested in are:
- the formation and spread of penal subcultures in various countries and their effect in framing the practices of organised crime;
- criminal justice, police reform and the politics of crime in the post-Soviet space, with a particular focus on Georgia and Russia;
- understanding the resilience of organized crime groups to state attack.
I have also worked on the issue of immigrant detention in the UK.edit
Research Interests:
Pino and Wiatrowski have produced a book of originality that is a first attempt to frame policing in the wider issue of development. The basic the-sis of the book is to argue that in the context of transitional countries only a model of... more
Pino and Wiatrowski have produced a book of originality that is a first attempt to frame policing in the wider issue of development. The basic the-sis of the book is to argue that in the context of transitional countries only a model of democratic policing is suitable for export as only ...
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We study police inertia and the depth of public mistrust in, and apathy towards, zero tolerance policing (ZTP) in Kazakhstan. Using survey, social media and official data we show how ZTP failed: politicians did not summon any political... more
We study police inertia and the depth of public mistrust in, and apathy towards, zero tolerance policing (ZTP) in Kazakhstan. Using survey, social media and official data we show how ZTP failed: politicians did not summon any political will for the policy, the police subverted any attempted reforms, while citizens ignored them. The failure of ZTP delineates the limits of authoritarian modernisation. We argue that modernisers require assistance from citizens in reforming police yet cannot mobilise such assistance due to public distrust which itself is created by authoritarian modernisers’ preference for police loyalty over police good behaviour. The consequence is a decoupling of the rhetoric from the reality of police reform.
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Through the case study of Kyrgyzstan this paper argues that a rapidly increasing availability of drugs in prison is not necessarily deleterious to solidarity and inmate codes. Instead, the fragmentary effect of drugs depends on the forms... more
Through the case study of Kyrgyzstan this paper argues that a rapidly increasing availability of drugs in prison is not necessarily deleterious to solidarity and inmate codes. Instead, the fragmentary effect of drugs depends on the forms of prisoner control over drug sale and use. In Kyrgyzstan, prisoners co-opted heroin and reorganized its distribution and consumption through non-market mechanisms. State provision of opioid maintenance therapy incentivized powerful prisoners to move to distributing heroin through a mutual aid fund and according to need. Collectivist prison accommodation, high levels of prisoner mobility and monitoring within and across prisons enabled prisoners to enforce informal bans on drug dealing and on gang formation outside of traditional hierarchies. We argue that in these conditions prisoners organized as consumption-oriented budgetary units rather than profit-driven gangs.
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Prison gangs are a growing problem in prisons. In recent times, Skarbek's (2011, 2014) governance theory has become increasingly popular in explaining their emergence. Yet, this theory downplays the role that deprivation and importation... more
Prison gangs are a growing problem in prisons. In recent times, Skarbek's (2011, 2014) governance theory has become increasingly popular in explaining their emergence. Yet, this theory downplays the role that deprivation and importation theories can play in understanding the emergence and behaviour of these gangs. This chapter seeks to address this shortcoming by demonstrating how the inclusion of these theories, alongside the governance theory, can enhance our understanding of prison gang emergence and when gang fragmentation or consolidation may occur. Drawing on research conducted in the US and beyond, this chapter argues that a holistic understanding of prison gangs and their monopolisation of power requires a consideration of the importation and deprivation theories, together with Skarbek's (2011, 2014) governance theory. Special attention is paid to the wider role political and social processes may play in influencing whether monopoly power by prison gangs is supported and legitimised or not.
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This article is an introduction to a special issue on prisons in the former Soviet Union. It discusses the main issues that become objects of prison reform including prisoner numbers, the organization of space, the production of order and... more
This article is an introduction to a special issue on prisons in the former Soviet Union. It discusses the main issues that become objects of prison reform including prisoner numbers, the organization of space, the production of order and the creation of oversight.
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This paper argues that pre-adolescent peer-group socialization in Georgia still refers to criminal subculture known as the thieves’ world. Through ethnographic observation of children playing games borrowed from the prison context, the... more
This paper argues that pre-adolescent peer-group socialization in Georgia still refers to criminal subculture known as the thieves’ world. Through ethnographic observation of children playing games borrowed from the prison context, the paper asks what function these games now have. The paper argues that children no longer see the subcultural capital of the thieves’ world as a viable currency to gain status, or the games as modeling important functions for adult life. Instead, the paper finds that now, perhaps due to government policies, game players approach the subculture ironically as a way of developing belonging and demonstrating broader socio-cultural knowledge.
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This chapter analyses changes to the landscape of criminal justice in Kazakhstan since the collapse of the Soviet Union. We find that criminal justice is a double edged sword: on the one hand it remains politicised and used as a tool to... more
This chapter analyses changes to the landscape of criminal justice in Kazakhstan since the collapse of the Soviet Union. We find that criminal justice is a double edged sword: on the one hand it remains politicised and used as a tool to protect regime interests, on the other, loyalty to those interests is maintained through allowing widespread discretion and informality in the policing of citizens, the conduct of trials, and the management of prisons. Balancing loyalty for discretion prevents substantial reform from occurring, despite some significant changes in some areas, particularly in alternatives to prison.
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This contribution describes the history, meaning and uses of the obshchak as an informal practice that structures prisoner society and organized criminal associations in the Soviet and former Soviet Union.
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Results and report from the first ICVS survey conducted in Kazakhstan. We find that only a fifth of crimes are reported to police. Victims of crime are on the whole dissatisfied with victim services and police response. Trust in police is... more
Results and report from the first ICVS survey conducted in Kazakhstan. We find that only a fifth of crimes are reported to police. Victims of crime are on the whole dissatisfied with victim services and police response. Trust in police is lower than world average but around the average for the former Soviet Union. Corruption and bride-kidnapping are found to be lower than in Kyrgyzstan. Punitiveness is not higher than the average for other former Soviet countries and lower than some Western European countries. Co-Authors: Jan van Dijk, John van Kesteren, Alexei Trochev.
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The current study utilizes a representative survey of prisoners and staff, interviews, focus groups and documentary analysis to study the prevalence of criminal subculture and examine its exact links to violence and victimization in... more
The current study utilizes a representative survey of prisoners and staff, interviews, focus groups and documentary analysis to study the prevalence of criminal subculture and examine its exact links to violence and victimization in prison. The report finds that criminal subculture exists to a greater or less extent in all prisons in Moldova. It is however much less prevalent in the women’s facility. Throughout the prison system and particularly in adult male establishments the subculture is enforced by centralized structures. Small groups of prisoner leaders enforce informal rules and produce punishment for those breaking the rules. The report finds that where such prisoner leadership is more prevalent, prisoners and staff feel less secure, have worse relationships, and experience a poorer prison environment.
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This paper finds qualified support for the use of Skarbek's (2011, 2014) governance theory to understand the emergence of prison gang-like groups in Kyrgyz-stan, Northern Ireland and Brazil. However, Skarbek's (2011, 2014) governance... more
This paper finds qualified support for the use of Skarbek's (2011, 2014) governance theory to understand the emergence of prison gang-like groups in Kyrgyz-stan, Northern Ireland and Brazil. However, Skarbek's (2011, 2014) governance theory has little to say about how many prison gangs emerge and how they organise comparatively outside the US context. This paper argues that variation in the number of gangs and their monopolization of informal governance can only be explained by considering importation and deprivation theories alongside governance theories. These theories factor in variation in prison environments and pre-existing societal divisions imported into prison, which affect the costs on information transmission and incentives for gang expansion. In particular, the paper pays attention to the wider role social and political processes play in influencing whether monopoly power by prison gangs is supported and legitimized or not.
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Published in Melossi D. et al. The Political Economy of Punishment Today: Visions, Debates, and Challenges (London: Routledge). This chapter compares prison rates across the former Soviet Union and asks why we have seen an almost... more
Published in Melossi D. et al. The Political Economy of Punishment Today: Visions, Debates, and Challenges (London: Routledge). This chapter compares prison rates across the former Soviet Union and asks why we have seen an almost universal decline in the use of prison in the region since 2000. It then compares the two most divergent cases in the region, incarcerating Georgia and decarcerating Kazakhstan. The paper finds support for a political economic explanation for the differing trends in prison rates in these two countries, but argues that this approach must be complemented by an analysis of the use of prison rates as part of elite signalling to investors regarding state capacities and strengths. In Georgia, increasing prison rates signalled state strength to fight corruption and protect property rights, in Kazakhstan decreasing prison rates signalled respect for human rights to international firms scared of reputational damage.
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This article looks at how global flows of people and policies affect penal subjectivity among prisoners in Lithuania. Those who had previously been incarcerated abroad perceive their punishment in Lithuania's reforming penal system in... more
This article looks at how global flows of people and policies affect penal subjectivity among prisoners in Lithuania. Those who had previously been incarcerated abroad perceive their punishment in Lithuania's reforming penal system in comparative terms. We find that international prison experience may either diminish or increase the sense of the severity of the current punishment. Respondents often felt more comfortable in a familiar culture of punishment in Lithuania that emphasizes autonomy and communality. Moreover, internationalized prisoners perceive prison reform emulating West European models as a threat to this culture and are able to articulate comparative critiques of this reform and contest its effects.
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Georgia is the only country in the post-Soviet region where incarceration rates significantly grew in the 2000s. Then in 2013, the prison population was halved through a mass amnesty. Did this punitiveness and its sudden relaxation after... more
Georgia is the only country in the post-Soviet region where incarceration rates significantly grew in the 2000s. Then in 2013, the prison population was halved through a mass amnesty. Did this punitiveness and its sudden relaxation after 2012 impact attitudes to the law? We find that these attitudes remained negative regardless of levels of punitiveness. Furthermore, the outcomes of sentencing may be less important than procedures leading to sentencing. Procedural justice during both punitiveness and liberalisation was not assured. This may explain the persistence of negative attitudes to law. The Georgian case shows that politically-driven punitive turns or mass amnesties are unlikely to solve the problem of legal nihilism in the region.
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The paper demonstrates how punishment can both create and extinguish political authority, using the case study of post-Soviet Georgia between 2004 and 2012. The paper situates the use of punishment, and in particular the overriding use of... more
The paper demonstrates how punishment can both create and extinguish political authority, using the case study of post-Soviet Georgia between 2004 and 2012. The paper situates the use of punishment, and in particular the overriding use of the prison, as part of wider political economy—a way to deal with the social ills plaguing Georgia, as well as a practice of resource extraction. The paper then highlights the ways in which penal practices interact with social and cultural attitudes and are central sites in the performance of state authority. Where state-sanctioned violence in the form of punishment does not dovetail with cultural attitudes about the appropriateness of that punishment and the supremacy of state law, political authority is diminished. The paper demonstrates how these two interlinked areas, the instrumental and symbolic, led to contestation, turning criminal justice into a key area of struggle defining state-society relations, and ultimately playing a crucial role in bringing down the United National Movement government in Georgia in October 2012.
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The paper examines the anti-mafia laws in Georgia and links the decline of informality under Saakashvili with the use of punitive measures in a concerted effort to establish legal centrism over and above other extra-legal normative... more
The paper examines the anti-mafia laws in Georgia and links the
decline of informality under Saakashvili with the use of punitive
measures in a concerted effort to establish legal centrism over
and above other extra-legal normative orders. The paper discusses
the specific informal practice of the obshchak, or mutual aid fund,
and how this evolved to become linked to organized crime,
making it an object of criminalization. Finally, the paper argues
that punitiveness, framed in terms of fighting the mafia, was a key
element in tackling informality. However, far from banishing
informality, pressure in the criminal justice system led to systemic
punitive informal practices within the state.
decline of informality under Saakashvili with the use of punitive
measures in a concerted effort to establish legal centrism over
and above other extra-legal normative orders. The paper discusses
the specific informal practice of the obshchak, or mutual aid fund,
and how this evolved to become linked to organized crime,
making it an object of criminalization. Finally, the paper argues
that punitiveness, framed in terms of fighting the mafia, was a key
element in tackling informality. However, far from banishing
informality, pressure in the criminal justice system led to systemic
punitive informal practices within the state.
Research Interests:
This chapter provides a comparative account of prison tourism in the post-Soviet region. It juxtaposes prison tourism in the Gulag center of Russia and Kazakhstan – countries where the Soviet system of labour camps was most prevalent-with... more
This chapter provides a comparative account of prison tourism in the post-Soviet region. It juxtaposes prison tourism in the Gulag center of Russia and Kazakhstan – countries where the Soviet system of labour camps was most prevalent-with the Gulag periphery of the Baltic States – countries where less remains of Soviet penal structures, but a sense of national victimhood is higher. The chapter is broadly organized around four key variables for comparison: the physical location of the sites; the representations of victims and perpetrators in museum objects; the degree of commercialization; and the narrative of making a break with the past and concealing continuities with the Soviet system. The chapter finds big differences across the cases in terms of these variables. However, it argues that one thing prison museums throughout the region share is a lack of engagement with the issue of penal reform and the degree to which elements of the Soviet system of punishment still endure.
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When reform occurs in prison systems, prisoner insecurity increases. One reason for this is disorganization. The disruption to informal governance structures, distributions of power, and mechanisms for establishing trust, causes... more
When reform occurs in prison systems, prisoner insecurity increases. One reason for this is disorganization. The disruption to informal governance structures, distributions of power, and mechanisms for establishing trust, causes conflicts. This paper argues that a key mechanism linking disorganization to conflict and violence is information flow. Incomplete information in interpersonal interaction marks prison settings. Informal institutions for producing certainty for both staff and prisoners emerge to overcome this. Such institutions are handicapped by reform directed at reducing informal prisoner controls. In such cases, violence becomes an information-generating activity and can substitute for reputation. The paper examines this proposition as it applies to prisoners and staff through a critical case study of radical prison reform in the South Caucasus country of post-Soviet Georgia.
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The article gives an overview of academic writing on mafias. It provides a definition for this often sensationalized phenomenon which focuses on the governance functions mafias perform and their similarities to states. It... more
The article gives an overview of academic writing on mafias. It provides a definition for this often sensationalized phenomenon which focuses on the governance functions mafias perform and their similarities to states. It contrasts mafias with other forms of organized crime. The article goes on to discuss how and why mafias emerge and exist in certain places in the world at certain times, what mafias do, how they organize, how they expand, and how finally they decline.
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A comprehensive report on the use of torture in Georgian prisons in the period 2004-2012 based on interviews, sociological surveys of prisoners and ex prisoners, and documentary analysis.