Logos of Gang Trials and Punishment: Stories from the court (Spain, 2005-2025)

• In Event: Advancing the Eurogang Program of Research: Perspectives on Gang Membership, Violence, and Justice System Involvement

Abstract

Inspired by John M. Hagedorn's posthumous book (Gangs on Trial, 2022), the paper reviews twenty years of trials linked to gang issues in Spain, in which I have had the opportunity to participate as an observer (Trial for the Ronny Tapias case; murder of a young Colombian man at the exit of a high school after a fight between Ñetas and Latin Kings; Barcelona, 2005), or as an expert (Trial for illicit association against the Holy Tribe Atahualpa Spain-STAS; Madrid, 2008-09; Trial for criminal organization against a faction of the Latin Kings & Queens in Catalonia; Barcelona, 2019-20), or as an investigator (Ongoing process for criminal organization of another faction of the Latin Kings & Queens, Reus, 2024-25). To this end, five types of "logos" or rationalizations of such criminal proceedings are contrasted: the police discourse contained in the records that give rise to the investigation; the judicial discourse contained in the sentences; the media discourse contained in press and television news; the biographical discourse resulting from interviews with the protagonists; and the ethnographic discourse of my own observation and involvement in these processes. Based on this experience, the evolution of penal punitivism in Spain and its effects on the discourse of gang members themselves are analyzed.

Author

• CARLES FEIXA PAMPOLS, Pompeu Fabra University