Book Review: Gangs on trial: Challenging stereotypes and demonization in the courts

• Published date: 01 March 2025
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/07340168221121311
• Author: Roberto R. Aspholm
• Date: 01 March 2025
• Subject Matter: Book Reviews

The authors then explain the nuances and indicators of in-group and out-group status and how these

are counterparts to the trappings of conventional gang culture. More common than specif‌ic ideologies

is the instrumental role of music for both indoctrination into alt-right worldviews and establishing

in-group communities. Music was critical in the emergence of alt-right predecessor skinheads and

was thematically demonstrated in the split between racist skinheads and non-racist skinheads.

Symbolic clothing of the white power movement also serves as a litmus test for legitimacy

amongst alt-right groups. Alt-right gangs also have their version of territories or set space, which

may be more private than conventional gangs but serve as “Aryan Free Spaces,”where people in

the white power movement can connect to each other and express their identities. Two Aryan

Free Spaces that are different from conventional gangs are the music venues, which include white

power festivals, and the virtual space where members and potential members intensify their social

bonding, connect to like-minded people, and reinforce their worldview. The use of the Internet as

an Aryan Free Space includes imageboards on sites like 4Chan, 8klun, Gab, and Reddit, that are

used as meme generators for cloaked websites which facilitate online troll social media bombing

and disseminate fake news aimed at eroding racial harmony, erasing factual history, obfuscating

legitimacy, and championing racist ideology under the guise of free speech. These social media

tactics are given further power through advocacy by well-known alt-lite f‌igureheads.

Fitting the characteristics of most street gangs, alt-right gangs engage in “cafeteria-style offend-

ing,”which means they participate in criminal opportunity as it becomes available to them. They are

mostly known for their violent behavior towards people in out-groups such as immigrants, Muslims,

Jewish people, and LGBTQ, but they solidify their identity through opposition to Antifa. The authors

argue, however, that the outside focus on the bias-related violence of alt-right gangs results in a

blinded perspective concerning the other gang and criminal behaviors of these groups.

Reid and Valasik conclude that alt-right gangs are becoming emboldened by their shared visions

with politicians like Trump and those advocating for policies on the extreme right. Even still, most

alt-right gang members are no different from most people in marginalized groups and can be dis-

suaded through the same policy interventions used for street gangs. The biggest problem is the

current lack of policy, and the authors suggest including alt-right gangs within gang def‌initions, pro-

actively charging and arresting members for non-bias crimes, and tracking communications and

activity.

The text suffers one major def‌icit: the lack of primary sources. Direct information from gang

members could further solidify or contextualize some secondary literature. Still, Alt-Right Gangs:

A Hazy Shade of White comes to us at a critical era in time in which these groups have been actively

trying to destabilize the United States. The book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand

how and why these events are occurring.

ORCID iD

Christian L. Bolden https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4653-2155

Hagedorn, J. M. (2022).

Gangs on trial: Challenging stereotypes and demonization in the courts. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press,

pp. 224. ISBN: 9781439922316. $34.95.

Reviewed by: Roberto R. Aspholm ,University of St. Thomas

DOI: 10.1177/07340168221121311

102 Criminal Justice Review 50(1)