Abstract
The research is a qualitative content analyis of articles identified through Google alerts and Proquest searches one year before and two years after the deadliest biker violence in US history. The police biker shootout left 9 dead--four by police--and 18 wounded. The arrest of 177 persons--173 male and 4 females--from a variety of motorcycle clubs appears to be an overeacten by the police. The research examines the public policy issue: Law enforcement authorities made a Type 1 error during the mass arrests thereby misclassifying many of those arrested, causing severe consequences to innocent persons and committing numerous civil rights violations.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anon. (2015). Houston lawyer cuts loses in biker pre-trial. Radiolegendary.com.
AP. (2015a). Memo: violence long simmered between rival Texas biker gangs. Associated Press.
AP. (2015b). AP: Waco police bullets hit bikers in May melee. Associated Press.
Ballard, L.M. (1977). “These youngsters change all these tradition”: A perspective on “Outlaw” Motorcycle Clubs in Ireland. Ulster Folklore.
Barger, R., Zimmerman, K., & Zimmerman, K. (2000). Hell’s Angels. The life and times of Sonny Barger and the Hell’s Angels motorcycle club. New York: William Marrow.
Barker, T. (2007). Biker gangs and organized crime. Newark: Lexis Nexis—Anderson Publishing.
Barker, T. (2014). Outlaw motorcycle gangs as organized crime groups. New York: Springer Briefs in Criminology.
Barker, T. (2015). Biker gangs and transnational organized crime. Boston: Elsevier—Anderson Publishing.
Barrow, J. & Huff, C.R. (2009). Gangs and public policy: Constructing.
Brumley, J. (2015). Waco shoot-out distorts their experience with bikers, Say Baptist. BaptistNews.com.
Chasnoff, B. (2015). Not all motorcyclists are “bad guys”. San Antonio Express.
Clearly, T. (2015). What biker gangs were involved in the Waco, Texas shootout. Heavy.com.
Contreras, G. (2015). Waco gunfight cases jam local courts. Houston Chronicle.
Davis, D.C. (2015a). The Waco police massacre. The Aging Rebel.
Davis, D.C. (2015b). The twin peaks ambush: A true story about the press, the Police and the Last American Outlaws . Self published.
Deconstructing gang databases. (2009). Crime and Public Policy, 8(1):675–703.
Dulaney, W. L. (2005). A brief history of outlaw motorcycle clubs. International Journal of Motorcycle Studies, 1 (November).
Editorial. (2016). EDITORIAL: State judicial commission wisely Balanced the law and hard realities. Wacotrib.com.
Harris, M. (1985). Bikers: birth of the modern day outlaws. UK: Faber and Faber.
Hayes, B. (2005). The original wild ones: tales of the Boozefighters motorcycle club. St. Paul: Motorbooks.
Jauregul, A. (2015). Texas turf war spurred Waco biker shootout, says Expert. Huffington Post.
Katz, K. (2011). The enemy within: The outlaw motorcycle gang moral panic. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 36.
Koppel, J. (2015). Waco biker shooting has long legal aftermath. The Wall Street Journal.
Maqbool, A. (2015). Inside a Texas biker gang funeral. BBC News.
McBee, R. D. (2015). Born to be wild: the rise of the American motorcyclists. Chapel: University of North Carolina Press.
Penn, N. (2015). The untold story of the Texas biker gang shoot-out. GQ.
Queen, W. (2005). Under and alone. New York: Random House.
Quinn, J.F. & Forsyth, C. J. (2011). The tools, tactics, and mentality of outlaw biker wars. American Journal of Criminal Justice. 36 (3): 216—230.
Reynolds, T. (2000). Wild ride: how outlaw motorcycle clubs conquered America. New York: TV Books.
Sanger, D. (2005). Hell’s witness. Toronto: Penguin Group.
Schillar, D. (2016). Year after Waco Shootout, case veiled in secrecy. Houston Chronicle.
Stranaham, L. (2015). Four weeks later: Waco police narrative unravels. www.breitbart.com.
The Aging Rebel (2016a). JP Peterson gets a pass. Agingrebel.com.
The Aging Rebel (2016b). More Waco indictments expected. Agingrebel.com.
Veno, A. (2003). The brotherhoods: inside the outlaw motorcycle clubs, 1st ed. Crosw Nest, NSW, Australia: Allen & Urwin.
Veno, A. (2009). The Brotherhoods: inside the outlaw motorcycle clubs (3rd ed.). Crows Nest NSW: Allen & Unwin.
Witherspoon, T. (2015a). Hewitt biker files civil rights lawsuit over Twin Peaks arrest. Wacotrib.com.
Witherspoon, T. (2015b). Dallas lawyer files complaint against JP Peterson over biker bonds. Wacotrib.com.
Yates, B. (1999). Outlaw machine: Harley Davidson and the Search for the American Soul. New York: Broadway Books.
Zito, C. (2002). Street Justice. New York: St Martins Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Barker, T. Massacre at Waco: Biker Violence and Police Overreaction. Am J Crim Just 42, 668–681 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-016-9364-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12103-016-9364-4