Juggalos, Devil's Rejects and other minor groups

The FBI's National Gang Intelligence Center labeled Juggalos, fans of Insane Clown Posse, "a loosely-organized hybrid gang" in 2011, and the Sixth Circuit left that label in place on December 18, 2017. The public South Carolina record is thin: a 2016 Myrtle Beach police statement naming Juggalos, and 2010 and 2012 Orangeburg County reports on the Santee-based Devil's Rejects and the Bootleg Militia. [1][2][3][4][5]

Origins

Juggalos are fans of the Michigan musical group Insane Clown Posse (ICP). In 2011 the National Gang Intelligence Center (NGIC), which operates under the FBI, published a congressionally mandated gang report with a section on Juggalos. The report classified Juggalos as "a loosely-organized hybrid gang" and defined hybrid gangs as "non-traditional gangs with multiple affiliations." [1][2]

The report stated that most Juggalo crimes "are sporadic, disorganized, individualistic," and that "a small number of Juggalos are forming more organized subsets" engaged in felony assaults, thefts, robberies and drug sales. [1]

The report named Arizona, California, Pennsylvania and Utah as the only states officially recognizing Juggalos as a gang. South Carolina was not on that list. [1]

Footprint in South Carolina

On February 29, 2016, the Myrtle Beach Herald reported that most gang activity in the city of Myrtle Beach came from "the Bloods, the Crips and the Juggalos." The reviewed material gives no Juggalo member count, set name or specific incident. [3]

On March 24, 2016, the same paper reported Horry County Police gang investigator Lynn Baker describing many county gangs as "hybrid gangs," localized groups that typically do not associate with national gangs. That article does not name Juggalos. [6]

On March 13, 2012, Orangeburg County Sheriff's Office detectives listed the Devil's Rejects among local hybrid neighborhood gangs and also described the Devil's Rejects and the Bootleg Militia as "two outlaw motorcycle groups in the tri-county area." The same briefing placed the Devil's Rejects in both categories. [4]

Structure and organization

The 2011 NGIC report, as quoted by the Sixth Circuit, stated that Juggalos' "disorganization and lack of structure within their groups, coupled with their transient nature, makes it difficult to classify them and identify their members and migration patterns." [1]

Identifiers and symbols

The Sixth Circuit wrote in 2015 that Juggalos "frequently display, on person or property, insignia representative of the band." [1]

In an October 2010 Santee incident, witnesses told Orangeburg County deputies that the men involved wore black vests whose backs read "Devil's Rejects, Santee, S.C." [5]

Notable South Carolina cases

The Times and Democrat reported on October 5, 2010, that two Maryland men were struck with a hammer in the parking lot of Coasters, a Santee nightclub, early the previous Saturday. Witnesses told investigators the Maryland men started the fight by provoking the men in Devil's Rejects vests; the report names no suspect and no charge. [5]

Current status

In 2014 ICP members Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope, several Juggalos and the ACLU sued the Department of Justice and the FBI in the Eastern District of Michigan (No. 2:14-cv-10071) over the gang designation. [7][1]

The district court dismissed the suit for lack of standing. On September 17, 2015, the Sixth Circuit reversed and remanded. On remand the district court held the designation was not a final agency action and dismissed the suit. On December 18, 2017, the Sixth Circuit affirmed, leaving the 2011 report in place. [1][2][7]

On September 16, 2017, Juggalos held a rally in Washington, D.C., against the designation; organizers expected about 3,000 people. [8]

South Carolina law defines a "criminal gang" by conduct: five or more persons formed to commit criminal activity who take part in a pattern of criminal gang activity. [9]