Oñati Socio-Legal Series

About the Journal

The Oñati Socio-Legal Series (ISSN 2079-5971) is an international peer-reviewed on-line journal which publishes work within the field of law and society. This is broadly defined to include work which makes a significant contribution to the understanding and analysis of law as a set of social institutions, processes, practices or techniques, using any methodologies and approaches from the social sciences and humanities. Oñati Socio-Legal Series is a 100% Open Access journal and is owned and published by the Oñati International Institute for the Sociology of Law.

Oñati Socio-Legal Series publishes original pieces of research. Papers previously published as preprints or working papers are accepted, as well as original reviews of literature. Papers are first reviewed at desk and, if pre-accepted, are sent out to double-blind peer-review by at least two external referees. Authors retain the copyright of their work at all times.

Announcements

August issue of OSLS is available: Sociology of law and prison studies: The social uses of law within the prison’s legal field

08-09-2025

The July-August issue of Oñati Socio-legal Series is available online. Titled "Sociology of law and prison studies: The social uses of law within the prison’s legal field", the issue, edited by Luca Sterchele (Università degli Studi di Torino) and Francesca Vianello (Università di Padova), presents original pieces of research by socio-legal scholars that gathered in a workshop at the IISL.

Nuevo número de OSLS: "Desafíos sociales y jurídicos del nuevo paradigma de la discapacidad intelectual. Un compromiso con los derechos humanos, la inclusión y la igualdad"

02-06-2025

Oñati Socio-Legal Series

About the Journal

Announcements

August issue of OSLS is available: Sociology of law and prison studies: The social uses of law within the prison’s legal field

Nuevo número de OSLS: "Desafíos sociales y jurídicos del nuevo paradigma de la discapacidad intelectual. Un compromiso con los derechos humanos, la inclusión y la igualdad"

Oñati Socio-Legal Series receives a JIF for the first time and improves its metrics in the Web of Science

OSLS and Sortuz have published their own style guidelines

OSLS will have a Journal Impact Factor (JIF)

Current Issue

Introduction

Introduction: Sociology of law and prison studies: The social uses of law within the prison’s legal field

Thematic Articles

The fall of a guaranteed culture in the production of law The case of mechanical restraints in prisons in Spain

Harm and governance of prisons’ systemic overcrowding

Privatization as bureaucratization Contracts, accountability, and uses of law in the privatization of French Prisons

Prison educators in the shadow of prison rules Results from a field research in Italy

Learning to labor in prison How healthcare workers navigate carceral settings and the prison’s legal culture

Learning and training while serving time Conflictual dynamics and cooperation techniques between prison actors and vocational experts

Convict and critical criminology Some challenges emerged during a mentoring experience

The Italian Supervisory Court’s professional culture and practices Among legal norms, bureaucratization, and prison moral environment

Illegalisms and discipline in a Brazilian prison An analysis of the social uses of law in prison based on cases of cell phone seizures

Gangs, mafia, organised groups in prisons: the formal and informal strategies of managing the “public enemy" Two cases-study between Global North and Global South

The role of solitary confinement in maintaining prison order

Law as a weapon Exploring prisoners' strategic use of the law in the prison field

Individual Articles

Designing technology for legal work A case study on boundaries and legal expertise

Police uses of law Legal knowledge and interactions with the judiciary in the activity of Buenos Aires police officers

Blockchain evidence versus the State RAIMUNDO as a case study

FemTech markets Building financialised consumer access to healthcare technologies

About 'another' urban order control tools Guards, filling agents and displacement

The role of cultural pluralism in Indigenous peoples’ defense of nature’s rights A case study of Ecuador

The institutionality of integration measures for naturalized citizens in Brazil An analysis from the perspective of law and public policies

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