Between use and abuse: an examination of the efficacy of interim and interlocutory injunctions in Nigeria

This article examines various types of injunctions in Nigeria with a view to assessing their application in light of their respective potencies. Setting out their contextual relevance and procedural requirements, it will be argued that prohibitory injunctions in particular are being under used. Although the last mentioned fact is without prejudice to abuse of varying degrees, it is forcefully argued that judges need to be more progressively analytical in exercising their discretion – in the wider interest of justice.     

Maras Morphing: Revisiting Third Generation Gangs

Third generation street gangs are a crime and security problem in many global cities, internationally linked ethnic Diasporas, and cross-border regions where insecurity and criminal non-state actors reign. Widely known as third generation gangs (3 GEN Gangs), complex gangs operate with broad reach—often across borders—and can develop mercenary and at times political and potentially terrorist objectives. The typology of the three generations of gang evolution (based on the interaction of politicization, internationalization, and sophistication) is recounted, recent trends in transnational street and prison gangs are explored and future potentials are suggested.     

Youth Gangs: A 1990s Perspective

The juvenile gang in the 1990s differs in many significant ways from the gangs described in the “classical” gang studies of the 1950s and 1960s. Juvenile justice professionals should be aware of the changes in the nature, organization, motivation, and activities of gangs and plan intervention strategies accordingly. One important issue in gang research—one which has great implications for public policy—is defining “gang” and “gang-related crime.” The existence of a “gang problem” in a community may be more related to the definition of “gang” and “gang-related” than to the objective issue of whether, or not, a gang problem exists. Further issues relating to the gang of the 1990s involve changing age and sex distribution of gang members, increasing violence by gangs, and deeper involvement with drug distribution. Implications for public policy are discussed.     

Violence and Gangs: Gender Differences in Perceptions and Behavior

Most research on violence has focused on males, but recent studies indicatethat females are also involved in violent crimes. Few studies, to date,have examined whether different or similar models explain male and femaleinvolvement in violent behavior. In the current research, we examine therelative contribution of social bond, self-control and social learningconcepts to the explanation of male and female violent offending. We alsoexplore the unique contribution of gang membership, school environment andprior victimization to these explanatory models. Using a multisite sampleof eighth-grade students, we find that results of a Chow test indicate theneed for separate theoretical models. Despite some similarities, differentfactors account for male and female rates of violent behavior.     

American Based Biker Gangs: International Organized Crime

Many American based motorcycle clubs have evolved into biker gangs involved in organized crime nationally and internationally. Using the information contained on the national websites of seven biker gangs—Hells Angels, Outlaws, Bandidos, Mongols, Warlocks, Sons of Silence and the Vagos, this article provides a listing of the gangs by chapter in the United States and internationally. These gangs have exported organized crime to the world as they have formed criminal networks with new chapters established outside the Continental United States.     

Legislative oversight in Nigeria: an empirical review and assessment

This article builds upon and extends the analyses presented by Fashagba (2009) and drills down on the analyses of oversight in Nigeria presented by Pelizzo and Stapenhurst (2014). It presents more nuanced findings. Based on an in-country document search and 45 personal interviews with politicians, parliamentary staff, civil society representatives and journalists, the article demonstrates that the Nigerian National Assembly possesses the tools and constitutional powers to undertake oversight; what it lacks so far is the political will of National Assembly representatives and senators to use these tools and powers effectively.     

Youth Gangs: Nationwide Impacts of Research on Public Policy

American Journal of Criminal Justice - This article examines the public policy benefits of gang research. In particular, the author highlights the benefits of longitudinal research on gang members...     

Gangs and governance in Russia: the paradox of law and lawlessness

ABSTRACT

The paper addresses the nature of gang governance. It questions the notion that gangs regulate social and economic transactions and create stable orders in certain territories. It shows that, while presenting themselves as upholders of the ‘law’ in their territory, the gangs also create a climate of uncertainty and fear. The gangs manipulate their own unwritten rules and set up traps for residents and businessmen. These traps are designed to deprive non-gang civilians of presumed rights and identities and extort their money. The paper uses Schmitt’s notion of ‘state of exception’ and Agamben’s idea of ‘bare life’ to explain how gangs function.     

Pre-emptive Strike: How Australia is Tackling Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs

In the past three years, new laws have been introduced in four Australian states designed to prevent criminal conspiracies by outlaw motorcycle gang (OMG) members and to disrupt the criminal activities of these gangs. The Australian laws push the boundaries previously set in similar laws in other jurisdictions, in that controls can be imposed because of membership of an organization perceived as a threat by the state. The laws constitute a pre-emptive strike against OMGs. However, there are very real issues about their likely effectiveness, given research suggesting that the primary structures targeted in this legislation, the clubs, are not necessarily the ones that OMG members use to conduct their criminal business. This article explores these issues, and suggests that the reaction of OMGs to this legislation may provide important information about OMG adaptiveness and resilience.     

珠三角地区恶势力违法犯罪团伙研究

恶势力违法犯罪团伙,拉拢腐蚀基层治安人员、竭力寻求"保护伞"趋势明显;从其自身规模实力看,抗打击能力低,脆弱性特征明显;从其运转方式看,大多结构松散,雇用式特征明显;从其对社会的冲击方式来看,隐蔽性特征明显。政府对无业人员的管理缺位,法律法规的不完善以及打黑除恶专业队伍建设的滞后,为恶势力团伙提供了滋生发展的空间。应针对恶势力团伙的特点、形成原因入手,寻求对恶势力团伙的打击防范之策。     

Homicidal Events Among Mexican American Street Gangs: A Situational Analysis

This article examines the complexity of street gang homicides and focuses on situational factors that lead to gang members' susceptibility to this violent behavior within the context of a disadvantaged minority community. This study is based on an analysis of 28 homicides involving Mexican American gang members. The absence of immigrant youth involvement in these types of violent crimes is discussed. Findings demonstrate how locally embedded social processes associated with specific gang types, ecology, drugs, circumstances, and motives unfold into homicidal events. These findings may contribute to the development of street-based social programs focused on gang mediation, dispute resolution, and crisis intervention.     

广东流动人口中的违法犯罪团伙研究

广东流动人口违法犯罪从分布情况看,呈现明显的地域和行业特征。从纠合方式看,以地缘为主,大多结构松散,反应迅速。从主体类型看,分为外省人员主体型、省内外市人员主体型和境外黑社会组织成员渗透型。从违法犯罪客观方面看,暴力性特征明显,违法犯罪类型多样化。这是因为少数地方和部门对流动人口中违法犯罪团伙认识不足、重视不够。流动人员生活环境的改变,致使流动人员处于不受规制状态。流动人口的流动呈明显的无序性、盲目性特征,缺乏规范和引导。法律、法规不适应当前形势的需要,存在打击盲点。应该切实提高认识,把打击、防控流动人口中违法犯罪团伙工作摆上党委、政府的重要议事日程;加强与外省来粤务工人员流出地的沟通协作,构建流动人口流出地与流入地共管体制;突出重点,强化服务,切实做好流动人口的服务和维权工作;整合资源,构建整体作战格局,提高打击、防控流动人口中违法犯罪团伙的质量和效率。     

Transsexualism in medicolegal limine: an examination and a proposal for change

This article investigates transsexualism and our creation of a state of medicolegal limine for transsexuals. The article addresses transsexuality as it is currently defined and explores our dichotomization of sex and gender. The author discusses both the social construction and the praxis of transsexuality, highlighting the medicolegal implications resulting from our current approach to transsexuality. The author argues that the creation of a medicolegal limine essentially prevents transsexuals from ever integrating fully as a member of one sex or gender, while simultaneously preventing the larger society from reconsidering its definitions of sex and gender. The article concludes with a summary of current challenges to our model of transsexualism and with suggestions for the resolution of this liminal medicolegal phase.     

Gangs as contractors: the social organization of American Taiwanese youth gangs in Southern California

This paper examines the organizational structure and operations of Taiwanese organized crime and youth gangs in Southern California. In-depth interviews were used as the principle method of research. In contrast to transnational criminal conspiracy claims and the La Cosa Nostra model of vertically integrated organizations, our findings suggest that these criminal groups consist of discrete local Taiwanese youth gangs which operate as largely independent economic units that show no substantive and operational ties to criminal organizations in Taiwan. The formation of Taiwanese criminal organizations and gangs in Southern California is primarily governed by the availability of financial opportunities. Furthermore, both the inter-gang relations and intra-gang structures exhibit a distinct form of contractor arrangement which consists of market-like weak ties that are simultaneously circumscribed by the criminal embeddedness. We argue that that these economic weak ties, which seem to render conventionally understood criminal organizational boundaries administratively less meaningful, still function as an operationally significant governance mechanism of the organizational structures of American Taiwanese youth gangs. In addition, the paper discusses the implications that the embeddedness has on the somewhat paradoxical and incoherent organizational structure.     

Gangs and Coups D' Streets in the New World Disorder: Protean Insurgents in Post-modern War

The mutation of protean “street gangs” to insurgents illustrates that insurgents need not be ideologically oriented, and need not be traditional revolutionary fighters emerging from the mountains and jungles to take down or control a government. Rather, they may have their own specific commercial money-making motives, and can emerge out of the favelas, callampas, villas miserias, and pueblas jovenes (city slums) not so much to replace governments as to gain very lucrative freedom of movement and action within a supposedly sovereign national-state. Also, mature second and third generation gangs have been known to act as proxies and mercenaries for traditional nation-states that want to maintain “plausible deniability,” and to act as mercenaries for warlords, organized criminal organizations, and/or drug-trafficking cartels that—on certain occasions—need additional “fire-power”. The instability and lack of individual and state security generated by gangs phenomenon and their nefarious allies are also known to lead to the radical change of failed state status. In these terms, gangs are no longer a singular law enforcement issue. As crime and war become more and more indistinguishable, gangs must be considered a larger national security issue—that, paradoxically, must be viewed as a local concept.