Early-career offending trajectories among outlaw motorcycle gang members

Abstract

This study examines the criminal histories of outlaw motorcycle gang (OMCG) members during adolescence and early adulthood to determine whether the profile of young members has changed over time. The recorded offence histories of three cohorts of members—those born between 1979 and 1983, 1984 and 1988, and 1989 and 1993—were compared. Seventy-eight percent of OMCG members across all three cohorts had at least one recorded offence between the ages of 12 and 24. The majority of offenders did not desist but continued offending at a steady rate into adulthood. The youngest cohort in the study was more likely than the middle and older cohorts to have a criminal history and follow a high-rate offending trajectory. Members of the youngest cohort were also more likely to have been apprehended for violence and intimidation, weapons and ongoing criminal enterprise offences by their early twenties. These results suggest that OMCGs are recruiting younger members, who are becoming involved in gang-related offending earlier in life, or that individuals with a history of offending are becoming more likely to join or be recruited into OMCGs.

Outlaw biker crime

“…The findings indicate that criminal involvement is an important risk factor for selection into OMCGs: individuals who have been suspected of committing a crime at least once are 8.5 times more likely to be registered as OMCG members than are individuals who have not been suspected of committing a crime (Chapter 2). These findings align with previous research which finds that a large part of the OMCG population is already criminally involved in their pre-membership years (Blokland et al, 2017b;Klement, 2016b;Voce et al, 2021).…”

“…This study, however, also indicated large differences in the offending patterns of various Australian OMCG chapters: over a five-year period 5% of the chapters was responsible for 33% of the total registered crime and 48% of the total drug supply offenses (Morgan et al, 2020). Furthermore, Voce et al (2021) showed that younger OMCG members, already prior to the age of 25,…”

“…While previous studies have greatly advanced knowledge on the criminal behavior and criminal careers of OMCG members, many questions still remain to be answered. Building on and extending previous work of Blokland et al (2017a;2017b;2019) and the international literature that has been published on outlaw biker crime (e.g., Morgan, Dowling & Voce, 2020;Klement, 2016a;2016b;Voce, Morgan & Dowling, 2021), and its' organizational structure (e.g., Lauchs, 2019;Lauchs & Stains, 2019;Morselli, 2009), this dissertation addresses the relationship between OMCG membership and the criminal behavior of individual OMCG members. More specifically, the aim of this dissertation is to empirically expand knowledge on whether, to what extent, and in which ways OMCG membership is linked to crimes of their members.…”

Co-offending networks among members of outlaw motorcycle gangs across types of crime

“…All offences were classified into five offence categories (see Table 1) consistent with previous research on OMCGs (e.g., Barker 2015;Voce et al 2021). This categorisation facilitated analyses of collaboration networks by crime types.…”

“…OMCG membership has also been found to increase the risk of involvement in crime (Klement 2016a(Klement , b, 2019 and offending among OMCG members has been shown to be more prevalent, more frequent and more serious compared with motorcycle owners who are not members of OMCGs (Blokland et al 2019). Critically, there is evidence of an increasing prevalence of young members with recorded histories of crime, and especially violent crime (Lauchs 2017;Voce et al 2021;Van Dueren et al 2020). It has been posited that at least part of the attraction of these younger men to OMCGs is the potential for profitable criminal endeavours, including criminal collaboration in such crimes with established OMCG networks Boland et al 2021).…”