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Article
Publication date: 2 November 2018

Mohammed Rahman and Adam Lynes

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the nature and extent of violent practice in the motorcycle underworld. It does this by considering the murder of Gerry Tobin, and then…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the nature and extent of violent practice in the motorcycle underworld. It does this by considering the murder of Gerry Tobin, and then uses the biography of the founding member of the Hell’s Angels motorcycle club (HAMC) for a critical analysis. The authors are interested in understanding the role of masculine honour and collective identity, and its influences in relation to violence – namely, fatal violence in the motorcycle underworld. The authors argue that motorcycle gangs are extreme examples of what Hall (2012) considers “criminal undertakers” – individuals who take “special liberties” often as a last resort.

Design/methodology/approach

The methodological approach seeks to analyse the paradigm of “masculine honour”, and how the Outlaws MC (OMC) applied this notion when executing the seemingly senseless murder of Gerry Tobin. So too, the author triangulate these findings by critically analysing the biography of the founding member of the Californian chapter of the HAMC – Sonny Barger. Further to this, a case study inevitably offers “constraints and opportunities” (Easton, 2010, p. 119). Through the process of triangulation, which is a method that utilises “multiple sources of data”, the researcher can be confident that the truth is being “conveyed as truthfully as possible” (Merriam, 1995, p. 54).

Findings

What is clear within the OB worldview is that it can only be a male dominant ideology, with no allowance for female interference (Wolf, 2008). Thus, Messerschmidt’s (1993) notion of “hegemonic masculinity” fits the male dominated subcultures of the HAMC and OMC, which therefore provides the clubs with “exclusive” masculine identities (Wolf, 2008). For organisations like the HAMC, retaliation is perceived as an alternative form of criminal justice that is compulsory to undertake in order to defend their status of honour and masculinity.

Originality/value

Based on our understanding, this is the first critical think piece that explores a UK case of homicide within the context of the motorcycle underworld. It also provides a comprehensive understanding of violent practice with the motorcycle underworld from criminological and sociological perspectives. This paper will inform readers about an overlooked and under researched underworld culture.

Details

Journal of Criminological Research, Policy and Practice, vol. 4 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2056-3841

Keywords

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 3 July 2020

Abstract

Details

Video Games Crime and Next-Gen Deviance
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83867-450-2

Book part
Publication date: 30 October 2024

Max Hart, Craig Kelly and Adam Lynes

Over the past 50 years, dark tourism has seen exponential growth in terms of both physical and digital contexts. Dark tourism is primarily a concentration around documented…

Abstract

Over the past 50 years, dark tourism has seen exponential growth in terms of both physical and digital contexts. Dark tourism is primarily a concentration around documented accounts of physical violence, and theorizations centered on dark tourism studies have generally fallen within either behavioral or interpretivist perspectives. Such perspectives are indicative of the continually evolving nature of dark tourism and its receptiveness to new definitions, conceptual frameworks, and theorizations. Taking this into consideration, this chapter seeks to develop and broaden the notion of “dark tourism” within the era of late capitalism by presenting fresh theoretical perspectives stemming from critical criminological frameworks. Specifically, in drawing upon critical notions of violence and the emerging deviant leisure framework, this chapter will aim to instigate fresh academic enquiry into the nature of dark tourism, expand its theoretical underpinnings, and subsequently provide a means in which to examine how banal forms of tourism play an integral part in the proliferation of some of the most serious harms that populate the contemporary neoliberal landscape.

Details

Dark Tourism
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83797-337-8

Keywords

Open Access
Book part
Publication date: 3 July 2020

Craig Kelly, Adam Lynes and Kevin Hoffin

Abstract

Details

Video Games Crime and Next-Gen Deviance
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83867-450-2

Abstract

Details

Video Games Crime and Next-Gen Deviance
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83867-450-2

Open Access

Abstract

Details

Video Games Crime and Next-Gen Deviance
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83867-450-2

Abstract

Details

Video Games Crime and Next-Gen Deviance
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83867-450-2

Content available
Book part
Publication date: 3 July 2020

Abstract

Details

Video Games Crime and Next-Gen Deviance
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83867-450-2

Open Access

Abstract

Details

Video Games Crime and Next-Gen Deviance
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83867-450-2

Abstract

Details

Video Games Crime and Next-Gen Deviance
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83867-450-2

1 – 10 of 51