By Kathy Amoroso
May 23, 2005

The House overwhelmingly passed a bill May 12 to establish gang-related crimes as federal offenses and put gang members in line for long federal prison sentences, dictating minimum sentences from ten years to life in prison.

Spurred by a recent spate of murders and machete assaults, Virginia lawmakers introduced the legislation after a Supreme Court ruling in January, which allowed judges to deviate from the harsh penalties specified in federal sentencing guidelines.

The Gang Deterrence and Community Protection Act of 2005 is a comprehensive gang bill, creating a national strategy to identify, apprehend, and prosecute gangs across the nation. The bill, approved by a vote of 279-144, expands the range of gang crimes punishable by death, establishes mandatory minimum sentences, authorizes the prosecution of 16 and 17 year old gang members in federal court as adults, and extends the statute of limitations for all violent crimes from five to 15 years.

Under the bill, federal prosecutors would utilize $50 million a year for five years ($250 million total) to combat gang activity in "high-intensity gang areas" to create and fund criminal street gang enforcement teams consisting of local, state and federal law enforcement authorities to investigate and prosecute criminal street gangs. An additional $7.5 million over 5 years ($37.5 million total) would allow the Attorney General to hire additional Assistant United States Attorneys to prosecute crimes in high intensity areas, and $20 million over 5 years ($100 million total) would go to local and state law enforcement to combat violent criminal gang activity.

The House bill defines criminal street gangs as groups of three or more people who commit two or more gang crimes, one of them violent. It calls for minimum penalties of 30 years for kidnapping, aggravated sexual abuse or maiming; 20 years for assaults resulting in serious bodily injury; and ten years for any other gang-related crime.

Supporters said the "Gangbusters" bill was designed to give prosecutors and law enforcement officials tools for dealing with gangs similar to those that the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act gives them to combat organized crime.

Opponents of the bill said it puts too much emphasis on punishment and neglects prevention. While the bill authorizes $387.5 million over the next five years to fight street crimes, opponents said the cost of accommodating new prison inmates alone would exceed $9 billion over the next decade. They also condemned the lack of discretion the bill gives judges.

The Senate gang crime bill is considered less punitive, with major differences in its mandatory minimums and the treatment it prescribes for juveniles. The bi-partisan Gang Prevention and Deterrence Act, introduced by Senators Dianne Feinstein (CA) and Orrin Hatch (UT):

• Creates new federal crimes to enable prosecutors to target violent gang members;
• Makes changes to current law to allow for effective prosecution for violent street gang crimes;
• Authorizes $762.5 million for law enforcement and community groups for suppression, prevention and intervention programs.

Feinstein served as the keynote speaker at the Conference's National Summit on Gangs, held in Washington (DC) April 27, where she outlined the details of her bi- partisan legislation on gangs.

"Gangs in this country have become coordinated, criminal enterprises that operate on the national level," according to Feinstein. "Indeed, over the past two decades, gangs have become far more violent, far more numerous, and far more broad in scope than they ever were previously. This is why we need a strong federal response to gang violence."

"I have introduced The Gang Prevention and Deterrence Act with Senator Orrin Hatch to stem the tide of gang violence. In my view, this legislation would take an important step to reduce gang violence, and it is my hope that the Senate will act quickly to approve it."

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, there are currently over 25,000 gangs and over 750,000 gang members who are active in more than 3,000 jurisdictions across the United States. Gang activity has been directly linked to the narcotics trade, human trafficking, identification document falsification, violent maiming and assault, and the use of firearms to commit deadly shootings.

The National Summit on Gangs was funded by the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) and conducted by The Mayors' Institute for Community Policing as part of its continuing effort to monitor the expansion of community policing and document its successes. The COPS Office will sponsor a continuing discussion of the growing gang problem in America's cities at a workshop entitled "The Fight Against Growing Gang Violence in America" to be held at the Annual Conference of Mayors in Chicago June 10. For more information on the workshop, contact Kathy Amoroso on the Conference staff at 202-861-6723, or Jocelyn Bogen at 202-861-6727.