This may be the author’s version of a work that was submitted/accepted for publication in the following source: Lauchs, Mark (2020) A global survey of outlaw motorcycle gang formation. Deviant Behavior, 41(12), pp. 1524-1539. This file was downloaded from: https://eprints.qut.edu.au/130675/ c Consult author(s) regarding copyright matters This work is covered by copyright. Unless the document is being made available under a Creative Commons Licence, you must assume that re-use is limited to personal use and that permission from the copyright owner must be obtained for all other uses. If the docu- ment is available under a Creative Commons License (or other specified license) then refer to the Licence for details of permitted re-use. It is a condition of access that users recog- nise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. If you believe that this work infringes copyright please provide details by email to [email protected] Notice: Please note that this document may not be the Version of Record (i.e. published version) of the work. Author manuscript versions (as Sub- mitted for peer review or as Accepted for publication after peer review) can be identified by an absence of publisher branding and/or typeset appear- ance. If there is any doubt, please refer to the published source. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2019.1630217 A Global Survey of Outlaw Motorcycle Gang Formation Mark Lauchs Queensland University of Technology, Australia [email protected] Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs are receiving increased attention by academics around the world. However, the field is in need of global data on how, when, where and why clubs form before any generalised conclusions can be drawn. This paper begins this process by attempting to identify every club that has formed in the world by location and date. 18 months of searching online through websites and social media identified 5072 separate clubs, which were then grouped by region and date. This data shows different trends of club formation in different regions. The data shows Western Nations formed clubs much earlier than other regions, but that Scandinavia, South America and East Asia are continuing to form new clubs at an increasing rate. Despite the USA being the country of origin of the culture, it only has 18% of all clubs. This paper concludes with suggestions for future research questions illuminated by the data, that try to explain the popularity of the culture and the environmental circumstances that lead to club formation. Keywords: outlaw motorcycle gangs, motorcycle culture It is time for researchers to take a fresh approach to Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs. The clubs receive international attention from policing agencies as purveyors of organized crime (ACC 2013, ACIC 2018, BKA 2018, Byrne 2015, PJCACC 2009), and academic attention as potential criminal organisations (Barker 2007, Barker and Human 2009, Barker 2011, Barker 2012, Barker 2017, Blokland, Soudijn and van der Leest 2017a, Blokland, van Hout, van der Leest et al. 2017b, Lauchs, Bain and Bell 2015, Lauchs 2018, Quinn and Forsyth 2012). While these approaches presume criminal involvement by these groups, very few authors have tested this presumption (Bain and Lauchs 2016, Blokland et al. 2017a, Blokland et al. 2017b, Lauchs 2018) and these still presume criminality as a starting point. In other words, researchers are addressing the outlaw biker issue without first asking fundamental questions about their existence, activity and purpose. They are rarely looking at the clubs through a non-criminological lens (Bain 2018). 1 There have been a few studies of these clubs as a social phenomenon (Bain and Lauchs 2016, Quinn and Forsyth 2007, Quinn and Forsyth 2011a, Quinn 1983, Quinn 1987, Wood 2003), and almost always from the USA. They fall on the far end of a scale of commitment to motorcycle clubs, with the most stringent rules and obligations. They distinguish themselves from other clubs by the use of the ‘MC’ abbreviation for motorcycle club. To acknowledge this distinction, MC will be used in this article rather than the normal abbreviation of ‘OMCG’. The clubs’ origins and the motivations of those who join are little explored by academics other than in Australia (Lauchs 2017, Veno and Gannon 2009) and New Zealand (Gilbert 2013). As good as these studies are, they cannot explain the rise of clubs in other nations and at other times (Lauchs et al. 2015). This study only looks at self-identified MC; clubs that knowingly take on the mantle of the hardest, hyper-masculine biker identity. It is these clubs who have territorial conflict, usually exercised through public violence, as a core part of their identity, and have shown a tendency over time to participate in organized crime. The first question to ask in a thorough study is where the clubs are and how many exist? Some police agencies attempt to list every MC, or at least the most criminally active clubs, in their jurisdiction (ACIC 2018). However, most agencies only discuss the major clubs as identified by central policing agencies and have not publicly stated if they have lists of all clubs (BKA 2018, Europol 2010). Some jurisdictions, such as those in South East Asia, are dealing with a recent growth in the phenomenon and have not produced public reports on the issue. Consequently, there is no official international measurement of MC. To date there has been no academic attempt to produce such data other than Gilbert’s work in New Zealand (Gilbert 2013). In popular culture press, Hayes (2018) has produced two editions of The One Percenter Encyclopedia, which, as will be demonstrated below, while a valiant effort, is significantly incomplete. Thus there are two fundamental research areas missing: the motivations for men to join the clubs and the measurement of how the clubs have spread across the world. This paper will address the latter, because the identification of the clubs around the world is necessary before qualitative data can be gathered on motivations. In addition, the information for the former question is contained within the MCs’ websites and social media. We do not know the size of the MC phenomenon or how it has spread around the world. Knowing how, where and when MC have formed will help researchers and government 2 agencies understand local and international trends. These trends will provide insight not only into these quantitative questions, but help with the qualitative issues of why they are popular, who is attracted to them and if there is any cultural variation in the reasons for their formation or their operation. Finally this data is necessary in order to test the presumptions that MC clubs are universally criminal organisations. Background MC are a quintessentially American cultural phenomenon. They arose from a mixture of returned servicemen seeking the brotherhood and risk taking of World War II, and are a subset of the counter-culture of the 1960s (Barger, Zimmerman and Zimmerman 2001, Thompson 1967, Watson 1980). The fetish of the movement is the Harley-Davidson motorcycle – an icon of consumerism and masculinity (Alt 1982). As such, MC culture is a contra-culture (Wood 2003); it is not a manifestation of roles within the dominant culture but a rejection of that culture. MC members prioritise the club over all other aspects of their lives, including their family (Veno and Gannon 2009, Wethern and Colnett 2008). Many men and women first experienced motorcycles and learnt to ride during World War II and, later, those from Korea and Vietnam (Schembri 2008). In the USA, the Harley Davidson, the most common motorcycle used by the US military, became a symbol of hyper- masculinity encompassing the danger of the powerful machine with the expertise of riding and the clubs became foci of brotherhood and sisterhood (Schembri 2008:391). The riders kept their strong bonds from the war, with their experiences making them “brothers-in-arms” (Barger et al. 2001, Danner and Silverman 1986, Reynolds 1967). Then as is the case now, the clubs attracted men who felt alienated from the safe and compliant lifestyle of mainstream society. Drinking and celebration as a coping mechanism with the dangers of war, was built into their relationships. After World War II PTSD and other feelings of malaise were eased by joining the clubs. Their mundane jobs meant they sought some excitement in their down time (Dulaney 2005). Motorcycles provided the excitement and were more affordable due to the economic boom after the war. This theory is clearly only related to the USA and has never been tested elsewhere. 3 The media invented the reprehensible biker culture through its coverage of a racing event held in Hollister, California, in 1947. There were no MC at this time but a raucous event became a beat-up story in the US national media. Part of the mythology of biker history is that the event led to the AMA saying 99% of motorcyclists were good, decent and law-abiding (Dulaney 2005). This story led to the making of The Wild One which codified the outlaw biker attitude. The McCook Outlaws, from Illinois, was formed in 1936 and still exists as the Outlaws MC. According to their website, the Outlaws’ current patch was influenced by Marlon Brando’s character in The Wild One (Outlaws MC 2018). But the MC were splinter clubs like the Booze Fighters, Pissed Off Bastards, Satan’s Sinners and Market Street Commandos, who originated the traditional culture of ‘drinking, fighting and riding motorcycles’. These clubs did not have strict organization nor a uniform, but they revelled in their minority status, and soon identified themselves as outlaws or ‘1%ers’; the few unconcerned by society’s rules.