Dalhousie Law Journal Volume 40 Issue 2 Article 7 10-1-2017 Hit Them Where it Hurts: State Responses to Biker Gangs in Canada Graema Melcher Bennett Jones Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.schulichlaw.dal.ca/dlj Part of the Criminal Law Commons Recommended Citation Graema Melcher, "Hit Them Where it Hurts: State Responses to Biker Gangs in Canada" (2017) 40:2 Dal LJ 609. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at Schulich Law Scholars. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dalhousie Law Journal by an authorized editor of Schulich Law Scholars. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Graeme Melcher* Hit Them Where it Hurts: State Responses to Biker Gangs in Canada From civil and criminal forfeiture, to "gangsterism" offences in the Criminal Code, Canada does not lack for tools to address biker gangs. Yet attempts to stamp out bikers have met with little to no success. State responses to criminal organizations should use those organizations' own structures and symbols of power against them. A gang's reputation may be effectively used against a gang, but this strategy poses significant challenges to prosecution. Attempts to use a gang's internal hierarchy and administrative structure can succeed, but may only produce circumstantial findings if not supported by sufficient and substantial evidence. Attempts to combat gang violence by targeting their clubhouses, whether through forfeiture provisions or through municipal bylaws, may prove the most effective methods of targeting biker gangs. The issue is not a lack of resources; those resources are used inefficiently and ineffectively.