Horror rap duo Insane Clown Posse have been embroiled in a legal battle to clear their name after their followers, the juggalos, were branded a gang by the FBI on its National Gang Assessment list in 2011. Now, a judge has made a ruling, and ICP have lost their case.
U.S. District Judge Robert Cleland dismissed the lawsuit and said that the U.S. Justice Department isn't responsible for how authorities use the aforementioned gangs list.
Cleland ruled that the list "does not recommend any particular course of action for local law enforcement to follow, and instead operates as a descriptive, rather than prescriptive, assessment of nationwide gang trends," the Associated Press reports.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, who filed the suit on behalf of ICP, plans to appeal the decision.
"This is not the end. We'll keep fighting to clear the juggalo family name," the band's Violent J said in a statement. "While it is easy to fear what one does not understand, discrimination and bigotry against any group of people is just plain wrong and un-American."
The 2011 document at the centre of this case called the juggalos a "loosely organized hybrid gang" with subsets that "exhibit gang-like behaviour and engage in criminal activity and violence."
Their may be a silver lining to all this, however: the last gangs report apparently makes no mention of juggalos.
U.S. District Judge Robert Cleland dismissed the lawsuit and said that the U.S. Justice Department isn't responsible for how authorities use the aforementioned gangs list.
Cleland ruled that the list "does not recommend any particular course of action for local law enforcement to follow, and instead operates as a descriptive, rather than prescriptive, assessment of nationwide gang trends," the Associated Press reports.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, who filed the suit on behalf of ICP, plans to appeal the decision.
"This is not the end. We'll keep fighting to clear the juggalo family name," the band's Violent J said in a statement. "While it is easy to fear what one does not understand, discrimination and bigotry against any group of people is just plain wrong and un-American."
The 2011 document at the centre of this case called the juggalos a "loosely organized hybrid gang" with subsets that "exhibit gang-like behaviour and engage in criminal activity and violence."
Their may be a silver lining to all this, however: the last gangs report apparently makes no mention of juggalos.
