Vicious Lawless Association Disestablishment (VLAD) legislation has been the subject of much controversy in recent times. Following the incidents involving Motorcycle gangs, and in particular the highly publicised Motorcycle gang brawl “Bikie Brawl” on the Gold Coast in 2013, the then Queensland Government implemented a criminal organisation clause in Queensland’s Criminal Code (1899) and took a particularly tough stance to crack down on all participants affiliated with criminal organisations and particularly those involved in motorcycle gang activity. Anti-Motorcycle gang laws have always caused controversy. They balance the fine line in taking the means in order to protect the citizens of Queensland but in doing this; can also possibly breach human rights, which are essential for every human being. The VLAD laws, do not meet the needs of, protect, or operate effectively in society. This …show more content…
The act was implemented and aimed to, “severely punish members and affiliates of criminal organisation that commit serious offences” (Barnes, 2013). The legislation was approved on the 16th of October 2013 and was immediately implemented. The Vicious Lawless Association Disestablishment Act or ‘VLAD’ laws act on the disestablishment of associations that support, encourage and foster persons who commit serious crime, (VLAD, 2013). This piece of legislation applies to criminal organisations and “any other group of 3 or more persons by whatever name called, whether associated formally or informally and whether the group is legal or illegal” (VLAD, 2013). The act declares a person to be a, ‘vicious lawless associate’, if one is to commit a serious offence. If a person is declared to be a “vicious lawless associate”, this act orders a 15 year imprisonment on top of the sentence for the crime or members of the
The first chapter of Policing Gangs in America is entitled, “Studying the Police Response to Gangs.” The primary purpose of the chapter is to establish how police agencies; Inglewood, Las Vegas, Albuquerque and Phoenix in specific, respond to gang problems in their respective areas. This chapter served as an introduction, giving a brief history of gang-related policing, how the public and media see the gang problem, research studies done regarding gangs and the recent declaration to shift away from suppression-oriented strategies as a result of overly aggressive actions toward citizens. Examples of this misconduct are given in the forms of gang units from Las Vegas, Chicago and Houston.
The anti-social behaviour act was made in 2003. The reason for why this was made was to make the rules of anti-social behaviour better and work more efficient also to do the same with the fixed penalty notices. The rules of this act is no one that is under the age of 16 is allowed to buy spray paint due to graffiti on private properties, no group of teenagers are allowed to do anything wrong to the public and also no public drunkenness which can lead to people disturbing the peace. An example for this could be the ASBO’s.
Kennedy, Leslie and Stephen Baron, Routine Activities And A Subculture Of Violence: A Study Of Violence On The Street, Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, Vol. 30 No. 1, Febuary 1993, pp. 88-112 (Journal)
“FERPA [Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act] essentially means you have no right, as a parent, to know what or how your children are doing in school.” Michele Willens says this in her article, “College Students Have Too Much Privacy” about the FERPA act that was passed in 1974. It was originally put in place to protect the privacy of students, but it also keeps information private from the student’s parents, or current gauardians. Because so many parents waste money on college students that might miss classes or even drop out without them knowing, the FERPA act needs to be reformed.
The Exclusionary Rule made its first appearance in the judicial system when it was put there by the Supreme Court thanks to Weeks v. United States. At first the Exclusionary Rule was only used in federal cases, only after fifty years of being adopted by the Supreme Court was it used in state cases as well. Before Weeks v. United States, any and all evidence that was acquired illegally or that violated the peoples constitutional rights was still used, if it was practical to the circumstance. The definition of the Exclusionary Rule is, “a rule that forbids the introduction of illegally obtained evidence in a criminal trial (The Free Dictionary, 2014).” The Fourth Amendment reads “…the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized (Law, 2008).”
It is surprisingly difficult to pinpoint the origin of street gangs. This may be because of the inherent nature of gangs: a group of individuals who come together for the same purpose and in the case of str...
Pinot, S, Wardlow, G, 'Political Violence', Australian Institute of Criminology, 1989, Retrieved 15 March 2011,
According to the National Gang Center, the change is gangs from 2002-2007: +12% in larger cities, +33% in suburban counties, +27% smaller cities and +24% in rural counties (National Youth Gang Center, 2009). The gang problem in the United States of America has been getting worse since the first gang was formed by Irish immigrants in the early 1800s. For low income and areas with high population, gang involvement with youths has also been getting worse. Regarding gang-related homicides, it is for difficult data collection industries to gather correct information because after a murder is committed it must be determined whether the murder is gang-related or not. But despite that, reports of gang-related murders are concentrated mostly in the large cities in the United States of America. Including San Jose, where there are long standing and persistent gang problems, which mean there are a larger number of documented gang members. There are literally thousands of anti-gang advocacy groups because there are so many concerned parents. These groups support politicians who are working to try to create legislation to reduce the gang problem in the United States of America. There are a number of theories on how to combat the gang problem, but a strategy which rarely fails is to take small steps in progress and continue to move forward.. There will never be a perfect solution that solves every aspect of a problem. But one policy that covers a wide range of issues involving gangs is the United States Constitutional bill S.132, “Gang Abatement and Prevention Act of 2009.” It is the most extensive and sophisticated piece of gang legislation to appear in the last decade, it has many objectives on increasing and enhancing law enforcement resources committed to the investigation and prosecution of violent gangs. It has had more supporters from both parties than any anti-gang bill in the last decade. S.132, “The Gang Abatement and Prevention Act of 2009” has the potential to deter and punish violent gang crime, to protect law-abiding citizens and communities from violent criminals, to revise and enhance criminal penalties for violent crimes, to expand and improve gang prevention programs; it will give jobs back to police officers such as those in San Jose who lost their jobs and will help law enforcement indentify gang crimes to be able to put murderers behind bars faster.
Several California cities recently moved forward with gang injunctions to reduce violent crime rates. Gang injunctions have become a distinct Californian approach to fight crimes since they were first introduced in the 1980s in Los Angeles. The injunctions that have been granted primarily affect impoverished, minority neighborhoods and may actually serve to further stigmatize and oppress innocent minority youth who also live in these communities. Cities have issued them to fight local gangs, and promise that gang injunctions will cut down violent crime rate, and make the neighborhoods more safer; ho...
It is impossible to maintain social order without the existence of law enforcement. The expectation of uniformity is unrealistic among everyone in any given society. The mixing of various nationalities, culture, religion, and especially socioeconomic backgrounds generate conflict. Conflict can only be remedied by a neutral entity. The current trends in the impact law enforcement has on minimizing crime globally and domestically proves law enforcement is necessary. Social order is integral in order to generate an environment free from terror and unpredictable chaos. We have learned from historical events that citizens, of any given society, to police themselves, results in constant violence among parties with incompatibilities in their relations with one another. Roufa, T. (2012)
Many have attempted to explain gang involvement in today's society. However, there is an underlying activity of youth joining gangs that does not seem to have enough media coverage or thorough explanations. As the name suggests, youth gang membership is about the juvenile population creating and joining gangs. Research indicates that youth gang membership exists in contemporary north America (Bernburg et al. 2006; aLilly et al. 2011; Maclure and Sotelo 2004; Sims 1997; Wiley et al. 2013; Yoder et al. 2003). This paper will examine the factors associated with youth gang membership using Karl Marx's conflict theory and labeling theory in comparison. Although conflict theory helps explain why a troublesome economy and coming from a low-socioeconomic status contributes to gang involvement, the theory has its limitations. On the other hand, labeling theory is unable to fully explain youth gang involvement based on the aforementioned factors. That being said, it can give a better explanation based on the factor of government intervention in the lives of citizens such as the context of stop-and-frisk which lead to unwarranted searches.
These new laws have been changed to try and prevent organised crime in particular bikies. In reality, bikies are fighting back because they have been wrongfully accused and now have to suffer for it. If the government want to protect the public by placing laws to prevent crime, they should consult the citizens and consider it for longer than 24 hours. To protect the citizens, the government first need to admit the problem and work with the citizens to find a suitable solution that benefits both parties.
No violence shall be inflicted on any member of the group unless the victim asks to be attacked by the attacker. Privacy is given to every member of the group and is determined by the comfort level of each party. If this law is broken, the punishment is the ration of food for the perpet...
Otero, Juan. “Curbing street gang violence,” National League of Cities. 21 Dec 1998. General Reference Center Gold. Jan 2007
Hallswort, S. And Young, T. (2004) Getting Real About Gang. Criminal Justice Matters [online]. 55. (1), pp 12-13 [Accessed 10 December 2013]