sjsca

Special Issue

Vol. 29 No. 1 (2023): The law of the outlaw: Law and order in, with, and beyond criminal groups

Women's Views on the Legal Order of "Thieves-in-law" in Postsoviet Georgia: Competing with State Laws, between Partisan Morality and Legal Formalism

Submitted
November 2, 2022
Published
2024-01-03

Abstract

As the power and influence of the “thieves-in-law” in Georgia weakened in an offensive against them that began in 2006, their parallel legal system lost some of its legitimacy in the face of the state legal system. This article, based on an ethnographic fieldwork conducted with women linked to the “world of thieves”, explores their discourses and rhetorical strategies concerning the “law” of “thieves”. It shows that beyond the partisan feelings of belonging that are expressed through claims of personal moral and qualities, their frames of reference reveal proper legal conceptions that interact and compete with the laws of the state.

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