"We are no boy scouts" - An Exploratory Study of the Criminal Careers of Members of One-Percent Motorcycle Clubs

• In Event: Examining the OMCGs

Abstract

Using officially registered conviction history data, this study examines the criminal careers of 601 members of Dutch outlaw motorcycle gangs, identified as such by the Dutch police. We find that the average 1% er in our sample is a 44-year-old, Dutch-born male. Over 80% of these 1%ers have been convicted for a crime at least once. One in three convicted 1%ers can be classified as a chronic offender accumulating over ten convictions from age 12 until 2013. The large majority of 1%ers experiences an adult onset of their officially registered criminal career, with almost half acquiring their first conviction when they are aged 30 or older, challenging the generality of criminology's accepted conclusions about criminal career development.

Authors

• Melvin Soudijn, Dutch National Police

• Arjan Blokland, NSCR

• Lonneke van Hout, National Police of the Netherlands