Outlaw bikers in the Swedish parliament: how MC clubs became organized crime
In the mid-1990s, the Nordic countries witnessed a number of spectacular shootings and deaths linked to motorcycle (mc) clubs, which at the time resulted in extensive attention in the media and to intensive debates in the parliament. This chapter analyzes how these events were described and discusse...
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| Format: | Print Article |
| Language: | English |
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2025
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Outlaw bikers as organized crime
Year: 2025, Pages: 22-35 |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Summary: | In the mid-1990s, the Nordic countries witnessed a number of spectacular shootings and deaths linked to motorcycle (mc) clubs, which at the time resulted in extensive attention in the media and to intensive debates in the parliament. This chapter analyzes how these events were described and discussed in the Swedish Parliament (Riksdagen) during the period 1993-1997. The data have been collected from the Swedish Parliament's database, Rixlex, and all publications from the Swedish Parliament concerning mc clubs have been examined. The data show that even though the majority of the bills of private members of parliament concerning mc-related crime did not make any reference to organized crime, the further treatment in parliament in the end anyway led to that mc-related crimes came to be regarded as organized crime. This was the case despite the fact that there was no evidence to support such a categorization. The linking of outlaw bikers to organized crime came to be an important argument in the debate to justify the introduction of new coercive measures. Powers that once they have been established in the legal system gradually have spread to less serious offenses. The classification of mc-bikers as organized crime has in that way contributed to a normalization of expanded police powers and practices and stricter legislation. |
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| Item Description: | Literaturverzeichnis: Seite 34-35 |
| ISBN: | 9781138490956 |
