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Enes Al WeswasiPhD

Research projects

The Unequal Crime Drop

The Crime Drop represents one of the most unexpected social changes in the Western world in recent decades. Contemporary criminological research has therefore been focusing on trying to unfold the driving forces of this development.

Battered scale on white.
Consequences of punishment in Sweden

Swedish crime policy has, during recent years, become increasingly punitive in character. This has resulted in increasing numbers of interns in prison and pre-trial detention. The development raises questions with respect to positive and negative effects of punishment.

Prison gates in Kumla, Sweden.

Publications

A selection from Stockholm University publication database

  • Spending blood for oil in Nigeria

    2019. Enes Al Weswasi. Nordisk Tidsskrift for Kriminalvidenskab 106 (3), 280-296

    Article

    The environmental impact of Shell Oil Company in Nigeria has resulted in large-scale protests. Despite their peaceful nature, these protests have been met with lethal violence by the Nigerian security forces. Accusations have been levelled against Shell for liability for human rights violations, but the company has denied responsibility. Previously confidential correspondence between Shell and Nigerian officials has come to show that the company has repeatedly persuaded security personnel to act against the protests. This article examines how Shell framed its desire for the Nigerian state to suppress the protests against the company. It does so by analysing the published documents, based on the theoretical framework provided by Stanley Cohen’s (1993) concepts regarding the neutralisation of criminal acts, and specifically, the neutralisation technique of appealing to higher loyalties. This is a technique adopted by companies when they use the greater good as a rationale for minimising their responsibility for harmful acts. The correspondence between Shell and Nigerian officials shows that Shell continuously urged the Nigerian officials to take action by referring to the company’s contribution to economic and social development in the region, even after their calls for action had been shown to have resulted in human rights abuses. In describing these rationales, the article highlights a case of corporate-initiated state crime, a form of crime that involves corporations inducing state actors to commit harmful acts.

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  • Does sentence length affect the risk for criminal recidivism? A quasi-experimental study of three policy reforms in Sweden

    2022. Enes Al Weswasi (et al.). Journal of Experimental Criminology

    Article

    Objectives This study examines the relationship between incarceration time and post-release recidivism among first-time incarcerated adult offenders.

    Methods A quasi-experimental design was adopted consisting of three policy reforms that were treated as separate natural experiments. While holding imposed sentence length constant, these policy reforms either decreased or increased the required share of a sentence inmates needed to be incarcerated before being eligible for parole. Data consisted of large-scale administrative records containing all convictions for the Swedish cohorts born in 1958 and later.

    Results Results indicate that neither increased nor decreased incarceration time had a statistically significant effect on post-release recidivism, irrespective of how recidivism was measured.

    Conclusions Findings reveal little evidence for incarceration time having a criminogenic or specific preventive effect on post-release recidivism.

    Read more about Does sentence length affect the risk for criminal recidivism? A quasi-experimental study of three policy reforms in Sweden

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