Exit-strategies
Within communities of motorcycle gangs
and geographic street socialized wild youth
Associate Professor Line Lerche Mørck,
Thesis stud. Camilla Møller-Andersen & Anne-Mette Palm
Quote
”This conflict has to be solved very quickly, if we all are to get out
of this safe and sound … the exit plan is no solution, but a small
plaster on a huge open wound, but the exit plan can do a small
difference, it may motivate people to think “there is some
possibilities”, but at the same time a lot of other intervention is
necessary …. There must be somebody, who can solve this
conflict .. it’s in the hands of the police, there must be a
possibility (Ravand, Copenhagen social worker p. 20-21)
Empirical references
• Group interview (2000), Semi-structured interviews (2000, 2009, 2010),
Feedback meetings (2010), meetings at the gang unit ”Safe City” at
Copenhagen City Hall
• Text, media-documents, books
• Gang-conferences: “Gang prevention, intervention & exit” (2009), “Stop
recruitment to gangs” (2010), “Gangs in historical perspectives” (2010), and
“Development of exit-strategies” (2010)
• 10 years of continued practice research focused on particular geographic
areas of Copenhagen together with social workers in boundary positions
within these areas
Goals for this Paper
- Develop and extend an exit-prototype about
conditions of importance for moving beyond a
gang/criminal positions
- Analyzing differences and similarities in
motorcycle gang communities and geographic
street socialized wild youth communities
- Discuss the preliminary notions of exit in relation
to new understandings exit that are situated and
relevant for these communities
In short we conclude
1. Moving beyond imply theoretical and empirical
based reflections of exit understood in relation to
the diversity of the involved communities.
Beyond dichotomized thinking of being either
criminal, ex-criminal or not criminal.
2. As pointed in the start quote, expanding
conditions for exit is also about ending the gangwar, this includes police intervention and
negotiations between the involved parties
Conclusions continued
3. Development of effective social work with
youngsters at risk of getting involved in the gang
conflict. In Denmark we have a strong tradition
for doing social work with ethnic minority youth,
and good practice which is about to be further
developed into more geographic areas. But we
completely lack effective social work prevention
within the communities where motorcycle gangs
recruit their members.
Preliminary notions of exit
• Swedish exit-program targeted nazi- and racist
groups, including five exit-phases. In phase two in
the exit-process the subject is totally removed
from his local community; in phase three focus is
on establishing a new network.
• Canadian prison research, focus on prevention of
relapse to crime. A notion of exit as staying away
from crime.
Practice research
• “an approach from “within and below”, it takes
the side of the subject of practice and refuses
traditional notions of scientific objectification”
(Nissen, 2009: 67)
• But also intersubjectivity between researchers and
co-researchers as a criteria of scientific validity:
“on the one hand, validity means consensus
(accommodating the views and perspectives of the
subjects): on the other hand, research appears to
produce qualities beyond this consensus” (Nissen,
2009: 68).
Dialogical exchange with coresearchers
• This exchange of references is a kind of
participating criticism on different levels.
• Our empirical analysis of double binds is one
example of how to challenge and move beyond
thinking in dichotomies of either "criminal” or
“non-criminal” in the present understandings of
exit.
Researching change
• Theoretically we draw on theory of expansive
learning - Danish/German critical psychology,
social practice theory (see Khawaja & Mørck
2009, Mørck 2010).
Researching how“institutions,capital and forces of
production give people power over legitimacy,
peripherality and participation without dividing
one from another” (Lave, 2008: 285).
Analysis of practice ideologies
(Mørck 2006)
• What is seen as legitimate vs. illegitimate and
totally abjected practice within the involved
communities. (abjected practice e.g. result in bad
standing among motor cycle gangs)
• How practice ideologies sometimes differentiate
from the practice of persons in various positions
• Analysis of dilemmas, contradictions, double
binds from below and as part of changing practice
ideologies e.g. present in interview, texts and the
media.
Boundary positions of the coresearchers
All the co-researchers have access to “street
knowledge” - access to first person perspectives
from within of the motorcycle gang communities
or the geographic street socialized groups.
Differences in their boundary positions
The perspective from within the motor cycle gang
communities is from persons who have actually
personal experiences from the core position and
thereby been active motorcycle gang members
earlier on in their life.
Boundary positions of the coresearchers
• The interviewed first persons perspectives on the
geographic street socialized wild youth groups are
from social workers and social street workers, who
do not have personal experiences with organized
crime as part of inner core of the geographic street
socialized wild youth, but they did grow up in
these geographic street areas, and they are part of
broad communities and are now working with
wild youth as part of these communities.
Quotes
• “Some became teachers, some became engineers, some became
criminals [..]. I do not in any way respect their criminality, but if you
grow up together, then there is something which is stronger than
everything else. We have always had this common feeling, the society
against us. We were the boys from [a specific area] and that we will
always be”
• “One like me has been part of this area for so many years, but you
know you can always trust me. You can always trust me within the
areas that I have defined. Then there are others whose areas go
further. Today they can use me for help getting a job, education, their
housing situation; it is why I am a social worker. They would never be
able to use me to some of their violent activities”.
• (Ravand social worker: p. 3-4).
• “sometimes you have to get money from somebody, or get
some drugs or delivery, or go out and threaten, or cut the
fingers of somebody [..] it is the same thing, you have to
prove your value, so that the club finds out whether you
are something and whether you want it enough.”
(Peter: p. 4).
• “The people who has been shot at here, most of them did
not have any conflict with HA” (Ravand).
• “I have seen a lot of shootings in this area, and when I am
driving in my social work car, if I saw somebody who is
taking aim to shoot from their car into the [café], and I am
driving in that direction, what would I do? Would I drive
away or would I crash into them?” (R: s. 6).
Exit from a motor cycle gang
• “I went in and talked with the old, some of them, whom I
had been prospect with, who had become full members,
where I said: ”this I can’t, I’m completely off and I’m on
the psychiatric”, and they knew which problems I had…it
was my own Harley that I brought into the club, I owe
them neither money nor favours, I had done what I
should…but there were some of the prospects who said:
“you don’t leave this, then I said: “then come”, if you
stand there one day, you can whack me, then it’s the way it
is”, then I thought: “now it’s all falling down on me”, but
I just heard one of the old saying: “I understand…”. (P. p.
8)
Beyond exit
• “in here you can still keep your old friends…you
decide yourself what you want to do” (Omar)
• “there aren’t one leader who says: you three, go
out and do something”
• “You can’t just leave, when it gets hot. It would be
perceived negatively in the different groups, if all of a
sudden somebody throws in the towel. It might be looked
upon, that you are then no longer a part of us. You have
chosen to leave this community, where we were born and
grew up together, and have been together about everything
more or less, and now you choose to break with
us”Moreover he adds that: “nothing will happen in the way
that you will be chased. You will get a cold shoulder.
There will not be the same relationship anymore. You will
probably have burned your bridges” (Hvilsom, 2010).
References
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http://www.kk.dk/eDoc/Økonomiudvalget/13-042010%2015.15.00/Referat/14-04-2010%2017.37.40/5362986.PD