CREDMAP
CREDMAP
Name of applicant
Asta Jarlner
Title
Researcher
Institution
Lincon Alexander School of Law, Toronto Metropolitan University
Amount
DKK 1,831,207
Year
2026
Type of grant
Internationalisation Fellowships
What?
In asylum and immigration law, decisions about who is credible, vulnerable, or at risk of persecution are rarely clear-cut. Unlike areas of law with strict rules and documented facts, they rely on subjective judgment, scarce evidence, and vague procedural guidelines, with high levels of individual discretion. CREDMAP investigates how decision-makers assess these high-stakes administrative cases.
Why?
Asylum decisions are known to be inconsistent and prone to bias. However, it remains unclear whether similar patterns of arbitrariness, systematic bias, and stereotyping exist in other areas of immigration law. Establishing whether these issues are generalisable to other legal contexts characterised by discretion and weak procedures is crucial for informing policy on fairness and transparency.
How?
CREDMAP combines computational and socio-legal analysis to study thousands of Danish asylum- and Canadian humanitarian residency decisions. The project uncovers mechanisms in how discretion is used in assessing credibility and vulnerability, compares patterns, and develops tools to analyse these issues at scale in administrative law, offering insights for fairer, more transparent legal systems.