At least 30 arrested in gang crackdown in Wilmington
By Andrew Blankstein, Times Staff Writer
10:39 AM PDT, July 31, 2007
Local and federal authorities fanned out across the "ghost town" area of Wilmington early today as part of a gang crackdown, arresting more than two dozen people suspected of drug dealing and other criminal activity.
Several hundred law enforcement personnel from agencies including the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Los Angeles Police Department participated in the raids, which began at 4 a.m. and lasted until midmorning.
In all, 23 locations were searched, resulting in at least 30 arrests by late morning, police said.
Although police executed search warrants across Los Angeles County, most of their attention was focused on the 12-square-block area of Wilmington known as the "ghost town," said LAPD spokesman Sgt. Lee Sands.
The target of the operation was the 75-member "Eastside Pain" gang and its affiliates, who have held a violent grip on the neighborhood for more than three decades, authorities said. Nine families control the drug dealing, which brought customers from Long Beach, the Harbor-Gateway area and San Pedro, police said.
andrew.blankstein@latimes.com
Friday, August 3, 2007
LAPD Routs 30-Year Old Wilmington Gang
Police join forces for Wilmington gang sweep
Local and U.S. officers arrest 43 people as agencies file asset forfeiture, nuisance abatement suits in the fight against drugs, guns.
By Sam Quinones, Times Staff Writer
August 1, 2007
For more than 30 years, the Blood street gang known as East Side Pain has participated in gun and drug sales in an area of Wilmington known as Ghosttown.
Nine families in the neighborhood have members in the gang and control drug sales, which bring customers from Long Beach, Harbor Gateway and San Pedro, authorities said.
On Tuesday, dozens of local and federal officers, as part of a larger and ongoing crackdown on gangs, fanned out across the neighborhood, serving search warrants and arresting 43 gang members and their associates on narcotics and weapons charges. Twelve fugitives were also charged.
The sweep, which began about 4 a.m., caught residents by surprise.
"I heard the buzz of the helicopters above," said Palmira Marquez, who has lived in the neighborhood since 1972.
Neighbors said that within minutes, the streets were full of police cars.
In addition to the arrests, Los Angeles police and agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives seized guns, marijuana, crack cocaine and cash.
As part of the five-month undercover investigation, local and federal prosecutors also filed five asset-forfeiture lawsuits and five nuisance-abatement lawsuits against the owners of properties in the area where criminal activity was allegedly taking place, City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo said at a noon news conference.
Some of the lawsuits seek to force owners to clean up and improve control of their properties. But others seek to seize properties, such as the suit involving the Catalina Motel in the 1400 block of Pacific Coast Highway, which authorities said has long been a place where drugs were sold.
Officials called Tuesday's sweep an unprecedented example of financially strapped local and federal agencies working together, sharing intelligence and pooling their resources to combat the region's vast gang problem. They acknowledge that has not always been the case.
"But change is here…. Not only do we work together, we happen to like each other," Los Angeles Deputy Police Chief Earl Paysinger said.
The investigation involved the LAPD, the Los Angeles city attorney, Los Angeles County district attorney, the U.S. attorney general and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Paysinger said the investigation differed from others because agents worked side by side instead of communicating via telephone or e-mail. Agency heads also made sharing information and personnel a top priority, something that hadn't occurred in the past, he said.
Initially, the LAPD and federal bureau had separate investigations.
"We found out about theirs. They found out about ours," said John Torres, the ATF's agent in charge in Los Angeles. "We brought our two investigations together."
The bureau, for example, provided more than a dozen agents performing surveillance and making undercover weapons purchases in Ghosttown, he said. Their information was shared with police and city attorneys, who used it in their narcotics investigations and as evidence in the nuisance lawsuits.
"It's kind of a new era in the way policing is done," Torres said. "I think it could set the tone of policing relations nationwide, once they see the L.A. model work."
Bureau Agent John D'Angelo said his undercover officers spread the word that they were looking for weapons to buy. In the end, they bought 15 weapons from gang dealers.
"People were jumping to supply them," many of which bureau agents believe are stolen from other states, D'Angelo said.
The alleged gang drug houses staggered their hours of operation so that when one was open, another was closed, Delgadillo said.
But some property owners targeted by Delgadillo's office complained that they were unfairly singled out. One house in the 1500 block of Cruces Street belongs to Gary Sprewell, 53, whose family has owned the house since 1959.
The city's lawsuit alleges that the Sprewells allowed the house to be used for narcotics sales.
Sprewell, a professional musician, said youths sell drugs on the corner outside his house, which he can't control. But "I've never messed with anything. Clean as a whistle," he said. "What they're doing is wrong. It's underhanded."
Neighbors said the working-class neighborhood, bounded on two sides by trucking firms and junkyards, has been besieged by gang and drug crime for years.
Recently, though, the heated real estate market has brought changes to Ghosttown. Several houses were sold after being vacant for years. Owners have remodeled.
Meanwhile, more Latinos have bought houses, creating a mixed-race neighborhood that once was mostly black.
Jesus Silva, who was washing his car Tuesday near one of the houses targeted by a federal nuisance lawsuit, said drug sales at the house have "been happening since I got here" 15 years ago.
"It's not so much that they sell drugs," he said as his children and nephews played in the yard. "It's that the kids see it and grow up in it."
sam.quinones@latimes.com
Local and U.S. officers arrest 43 people as agencies file asset forfeiture, nuisance abatement suits in the fight against drugs, guns.
By Sam Quinones, Times Staff Writer
August 1, 2007
For more than 30 years, the Blood street gang known as East Side Pain has participated in gun and drug sales in an area of Wilmington known as Ghosttown.
Nine families in the neighborhood have members in the gang and control drug sales, which bring customers from Long Beach, Harbor Gateway and San Pedro, authorities said.
On Tuesday, dozens of local and federal officers, as part of a larger and ongoing crackdown on gangs, fanned out across the neighborhood, serving search warrants and arresting 43 gang members and their associates on narcotics and weapons charges. Twelve fugitives were also charged.
The sweep, which began about 4 a.m., caught residents by surprise.
"I heard the buzz of the helicopters above," said Palmira Marquez, who has lived in the neighborhood since 1972.
Neighbors said that within minutes, the streets were full of police cars.
In addition to the arrests, Los Angeles police and agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives seized guns, marijuana, crack cocaine and cash.
As part of the five-month undercover investigation, local and federal prosecutors also filed five asset-forfeiture lawsuits and five nuisance-abatement lawsuits against the owners of properties in the area where criminal activity was allegedly taking place, City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo said at a noon news conference.
Some of the lawsuits seek to force owners to clean up and improve control of their properties. But others seek to seize properties, such as the suit involving the Catalina Motel in the 1400 block of Pacific Coast Highway, which authorities said has long been a place where drugs were sold.
Officials called Tuesday's sweep an unprecedented example of financially strapped local and federal agencies working together, sharing intelligence and pooling their resources to combat the region's vast gang problem. They acknowledge that has not always been the case.
"But change is here…. Not only do we work together, we happen to like each other," Los Angeles Deputy Police Chief Earl Paysinger said.
The investigation involved the LAPD, the Los Angeles city attorney, Los Angeles County district attorney, the U.S. attorney general and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Paysinger said the investigation differed from others because agents worked side by side instead of communicating via telephone or e-mail. Agency heads also made sharing information and personnel a top priority, something that hadn't occurred in the past, he said.
Initially, the LAPD and federal bureau had separate investigations.
"We found out about theirs. They found out about ours," said John Torres, the ATF's agent in charge in Los Angeles. "We brought our two investigations together."
The bureau, for example, provided more than a dozen agents performing surveillance and making undercover weapons purchases in Ghosttown, he said. Their information was shared with police and city attorneys, who used it in their narcotics investigations and as evidence in the nuisance lawsuits.
"It's kind of a new era in the way policing is done," Torres said. "I think it could set the tone of policing relations nationwide, once they see the L.A. model work."
Bureau Agent John D'Angelo said his undercover officers spread the word that they were looking for weapons to buy. In the end, they bought 15 weapons from gang dealers.
"People were jumping to supply them," many of which bureau agents believe are stolen from other states, D'Angelo said.
The alleged gang drug houses staggered their hours of operation so that when one was open, another was closed, Delgadillo said.
But some property owners targeted by Delgadillo's office complained that they were unfairly singled out. One house in the 1500 block of Cruces Street belongs to Gary Sprewell, 53, whose family has owned the house since 1959.
The city's lawsuit alleges that the Sprewells allowed the house to be used for narcotics sales.
Sprewell, a professional musician, said youths sell drugs on the corner outside his house, which he can't control. But "I've never messed with anything. Clean as a whistle," he said. "What they're doing is wrong. It's underhanded."
Neighbors said the working-class neighborhood, bounded on two sides by trucking firms and junkyards, has been besieged by gang and drug crime for years.
Recently, though, the heated real estate market has brought changes to Ghosttown. Several houses were sold after being vacant for years. Owners have remodeled.
Meanwhile, more Latinos have bought houses, creating a mixed-race neighborhood that once was mostly black.
Jesus Silva, who was washing his car Tuesday near one of the houses targeted by a federal nuisance lawsuit, said drug sales at the house have "been happening since I got here" 15 years ago.
"It's not so much that they sell drugs," he said as his children and nephews played in the yard. "It's that the kids see it and grow up in it."
sam.quinones@latimes.com
Thursday, July 26, 2007
The Gangs Behind Bars-Prison Gangs
Insight on the News, Sept 28, 1998 by Tiffany Danitz
Prison gangs are flourishing across the country. Organized, stealthy and deadly, they are reaching out from their cells to organize and control crime in America's streets.
A 40-year-old gang leader uses his cellular phone to organize an elaborate drug ring and order hits. He commands respect. He wears gang-banger clothing and drapes himself with gold chains. This man is responsible for an entire network of gang members across the state of Illinois. He is Gino Colon, the mastermind behind the Latin Kings. When prosecutors finally caught up with him last August, Colon was indicted for running the Latin Kings' drug-dealing operation from behind prison walls--the state penitentiary in Menard.
"People in society and correctional officers need to understand that immediate control over the prison system is often an illusion at any time," says Cory Godwin, president of the gang-investigators association for the Florida Department of Corrections, or DC. "Contraband equals power."
Prison gangs are flourishing from California to Massachusetts. In 1996, the Federal Bureau of Prisons found that prison disturbances soared by about 400 percent in the early nineties, which authorities say indicated that gangs were becoming more active. In states such as Illinois, as much as 60 percent of the prison population belong to gangs, Godwin says. The Florida DC has identified 240 street gangs operating in their prisons. Street gangs, as opposed to gangs originating in prisons, are emerging as a larger problem on the East Coast.
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Of the 143,000 inmates Texas houses in state pens, 5,000 have been identified as gang members and another 10,000 are under suspicion. Texas prison-gang expert Sammy Buentello says the state's prisons are not infested with gangs, but those that have set up shop are highly organized. "They have a paramilitary type structure;' he says. "A majority of the people that come in have had experience with street-gang membership and have been brought up in that environment accepting it as the norm. But some join for survival."
After James Byrd Jr. was dragged to death in Jasper last June, rumors spread throughout Texas linking two of the suspected assailants to racially charged prison gangs. While authorities and inmates dismiss these rumors, the Jasper murder occurred only weeks after a San Antonio grand jury indicted 16 members of the Mexican Mafia, one of the state's largest and most lethal prison gangs, for ordering the deaths of five people in San Antonio from within prison walls.
"As they are being released into the community on parole, these people are becoming involved in actions related to prison-gang business. Consequently, it is no longer just a corrections problem--it is also a community problem," Buentello tells Insight.
According to gang investigators, the gang leaders communicate orders through letters. Where mail is monitored they may use a code--for instance, making every 12th word of a seemingly benign letter significant. They use visits, they put messages into their artwork and in some states they use the telephone. "It is a misnomer that when you lock a gang member up they fall off to Calcutta. They continue their activity," Godwin emphasizes. "It has only been in the last five years that law enforcement has realized that what happens on the inside can affect what happens on the outside and vice versa."
Of the two kinds of gangs, prison gangs and street gangs, the prison gangs are better organized, according to gang investigators. They developed within the prison system in California, Texas and Illinois in the 1940s and are low-key, discreet--even stealthy. They monitor members and dictate how they behave and treat each other. A serious violation means death, say investigators.
The street gangs are more flagrant. "Their members are going into the prisons and realizing that one of the reasons they are in prison is that they kept such a high profile" making it easier for the police to catch them, says Buentello. "So, they are coming out more sophisticated and more dangerous because they aren't as easily detected. They also network and keep track of who is out and so forth."
According to gang investigators and prisoners, the prison gangs were formed for protection against predatory inmates, but racketeering, black markets and racism became factors.
Godwin says Texas should never have outlawed smoking in the prisons, adding cigarettes as trade-goods contraband to the prohibited list. "If you go back to the Civil War era, to Andersonville prison," Godwin says of the prisoner-of-war facility for Union soldiers, "you will see that the first thing that developed was a gang because someone had to control the contraband--that is power. I'm convinced that if you put three people on an island somewhere, two would clique up and become predatory against the other at some point."
But protection remains an important factor. When a new inmate enters the prison system he is challenged to a fight, according to a Texas state-pen prisoner. The outcome determines who can fight, who will be extorted for protection money and who will become a servant to other prisoners. Those who can't join a gang or afford to spend $5 a week in commissary items for protection are destined to be servants. Godwin explains: "The environment is set up so that when you put that many people with antisocial behavior and criminal history together, someone is going to be the predator and someone the prey, and that is reality."
Prison gangs are flourishing across the country. Organized, stealthy and deadly, they are reaching out from their cells to organize and control crime in America's streets.
A 40-year-old gang leader uses his cellular phone to organize an elaborate drug ring and order hits. He commands respect. He wears gang-banger clothing and drapes himself with gold chains. This man is responsible for an entire network of gang members across the state of Illinois. He is Gino Colon, the mastermind behind the Latin Kings. When prosecutors finally caught up with him last August, Colon was indicted for running the Latin Kings' drug-dealing operation from behind prison walls--the state penitentiary in Menard.
"People in society and correctional officers need to understand that immediate control over the prison system is often an illusion at any time," says Cory Godwin, president of the gang-investigators association for the Florida Department of Corrections, or DC. "Contraband equals power."
Prison gangs are flourishing from California to Massachusetts. In 1996, the Federal Bureau of Prisons found that prison disturbances soared by about 400 percent in the early nineties, which authorities say indicated that gangs were becoming more active. In states such as Illinois, as much as 60 percent of the prison population belong to gangs, Godwin says. The Florida DC has identified 240 street gangs operating in their prisons. Street gangs, as opposed to gangs originating in prisons, are emerging as a larger problem on the East Coast.
Advertisement
Of the 143,000 inmates Texas houses in state pens, 5,000 have been identified as gang members and another 10,000 are under suspicion. Texas prison-gang expert Sammy Buentello says the state's prisons are not infested with gangs, but those that have set up shop are highly organized. "They have a paramilitary type structure;' he says. "A majority of the people that come in have had experience with street-gang membership and have been brought up in that environment accepting it as the norm. But some join for survival."
After James Byrd Jr. was dragged to death in Jasper last June, rumors spread throughout Texas linking two of the suspected assailants to racially charged prison gangs. While authorities and inmates dismiss these rumors, the Jasper murder occurred only weeks after a San Antonio grand jury indicted 16 members of the Mexican Mafia, one of the state's largest and most lethal prison gangs, for ordering the deaths of five people in San Antonio from within prison walls.
"As they are being released into the community on parole, these people are becoming involved in actions related to prison-gang business. Consequently, it is no longer just a corrections problem--it is also a community problem," Buentello tells Insight.
According to gang investigators, the gang leaders communicate orders through letters. Where mail is monitored they may use a code--for instance, making every 12th word of a seemingly benign letter significant. They use visits, they put messages into their artwork and in some states they use the telephone. "It is a misnomer that when you lock a gang member up they fall off to Calcutta. They continue their activity," Godwin emphasizes. "It has only been in the last five years that law enforcement has realized that what happens on the inside can affect what happens on the outside and vice versa."
Of the two kinds of gangs, prison gangs and street gangs, the prison gangs are better organized, according to gang investigators. They developed within the prison system in California, Texas and Illinois in the 1940s and are low-key, discreet--even stealthy. They monitor members and dictate how they behave and treat each other. A serious violation means death, say investigators.
The street gangs are more flagrant. "Their members are going into the prisons and realizing that one of the reasons they are in prison is that they kept such a high profile" making it easier for the police to catch them, says Buentello. "So, they are coming out more sophisticated and more dangerous because they aren't as easily detected. They also network and keep track of who is out and so forth."
According to gang investigators and prisoners, the prison gangs were formed for protection against predatory inmates, but racketeering, black markets and racism became factors.
Godwin says Texas should never have outlawed smoking in the prisons, adding cigarettes as trade-goods contraband to the prohibited list. "If you go back to the Civil War era, to Andersonville prison," Godwin says of the prisoner-of-war facility for Union soldiers, "you will see that the first thing that developed was a gang because someone had to control the contraband--that is power. I'm convinced that if you put three people on an island somewhere, two would clique up and become predatory against the other at some point."
But protection remains an important factor. When a new inmate enters the prison system he is challenged to a fight, according to a Texas state-pen prisoner. The outcome determines who can fight, who will be extorted for protection money and who will become a servant to other prisoners. Those who can't join a gang or afford to spend $5 a week in commissary items for protection are destined to be servants. Godwin explains: "The environment is set up so that when you put that many people with antisocial behavior and criminal history together, someone is going to be the predator and someone the prey, and that is reality."
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Central America Seeks Partnership With L.A. in Fight Against Gangs
By ANDREW GLAZER, The Associated Press
Feb 6, 2007 8:14 PM (3 days ago)
LOS ANGELES - Not long ago, the U.S. regularly deported convicted gang members to their home countries in Central America without tipping off local police of their criminal past, the director of El Salvador's national police said Tuesday on the eve of an international summit on gangs.
Los Angeles' pervasive and violent street gangs were seen as a local problem and not part of an international criminal web, even as some gangs such as MS-13 and 18th Street, oozed across borders into Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.
The three-day summit beginning Wednesday in Los Angeles reflects a recent shift in that philosophy. It features top officials from several Central American and local U.S. police departments, along with the FBI.
Seminar participants said gang members have been taking advantage of the lack of information sharing to cross borders unidentified by local police - bringing weapons, ideas for criminal enterprise and rivalries.
"Now it is most important to take advantage of technology, of our shared economic interests and of our information to find new ways to make sure these violent gangs don't continue to find ways of staying in the dark," said Rodrigo Avila Avilez, director general of El Salvador's national police.
Earlier this week in El Salvador, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez announced an initiative to improve anti-gang cooperation between the two countries that will ease the arrest of fugitives, coordinate training and improve information sharing and gang intelligence gathering.
Avila Avilez estimated there were as many as 15,000 gang members in El Salvador, a country of about 6.8 million. There are about 6,000 gang members in Guatemala, a country of 12.3 million, said Ervin Johann Sperisen Vernon, director general of Guatemala's national police.
By comparison, police estimate Los Angeles County has about 40,000 gang members.
The spread of Los Angeles-style gangs to Central America is in part the result of mass deportations of young men indoctrinated in the city's violent streets after fleeing their home countries during the civil wars of the 1970s and 80s. In many cases, gang members raised in Los Angeles have more in common culturally with the city than their home countries, police officials said.
"In El Salvador, they speak Spanglish, or Spanish with a Mexican accent," Avila Avilez said. "It gives them a privileged status among fellow gang members."
Robert B. Loosle, who oversees the FBI's gang investigations in Los Angeles, said crimes committed by gangs in Central America serve as a bellwether for potential criminal enterprises in the U.S.
Particularly noteworthy, Loosle said, was a spike in extortion rackets committed by gangs in El Salvador. Armed members of MS-13 regularly shake down neighborhoods for protection money and demand taxes from bus and truck drivers passing through their turf.
"Since members of gangs travel freely across borders, we need to pay attention to new trends they bring with them," Loosle said.
Sperisen Vernon said gangs in Guatemala are increasingly recruiting young children to deal drugs, stash dirty money and even kill rivals.
"It's much more complicated to jail minors," he said.
He and Avila Avilez both mentioned another disturbing trend: the spread of gang recruitment from the disillusioned poor to children from good homes who are too afraid to remain unaffiliated.
"There is a saying in some El Salvador neighborhoods," Avila Avilez said. "It is, 'If you're not in a gang, then you're against gangs.'"
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Feb 6, 2007 8:14 PM (3 days ago)
LOS ANGELES - Not long ago, the U.S. regularly deported convicted gang members to their home countries in Central America without tipping off local police of their criminal past, the director of El Salvador's national police said Tuesday on the eve of an international summit on gangs.
Los Angeles' pervasive and violent street gangs were seen as a local problem and not part of an international criminal web, even as some gangs such as MS-13 and 18th Street, oozed across borders into Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.
The three-day summit beginning Wednesday in Los Angeles reflects a recent shift in that philosophy. It features top officials from several Central American and local U.S. police departments, along with the FBI.
Seminar participants said gang members have been taking advantage of the lack of information sharing to cross borders unidentified by local police - bringing weapons, ideas for criminal enterprise and rivalries.
"Now it is most important to take advantage of technology, of our shared economic interests and of our information to find new ways to make sure these violent gangs don't continue to find ways of staying in the dark," said Rodrigo Avila Avilez, director general of El Salvador's national police.
Earlier this week in El Salvador, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez announced an initiative to improve anti-gang cooperation between the two countries that will ease the arrest of fugitives, coordinate training and improve information sharing and gang intelligence gathering.
Avila Avilez estimated there were as many as 15,000 gang members in El Salvador, a country of about 6.8 million. There are about 6,000 gang members in Guatemala, a country of 12.3 million, said Ervin Johann Sperisen Vernon, director general of Guatemala's national police.
By comparison, police estimate Los Angeles County has about 40,000 gang members.
The spread of Los Angeles-style gangs to Central America is in part the result of mass deportations of young men indoctrinated in the city's violent streets after fleeing their home countries during the civil wars of the 1970s and 80s. In many cases, gang members raised in Los Angeles have more in common culturally with the city than their home countries, police officials said.
"In El Salvador, they speak Spanglish, or Spanish with a Mexican accent," Avila Avilez said. "It gives them a privileged status among fellow gang members."
Robert B. Loosle, who oversees the FBI's gang investigations in Los Angeles, said crimes committed by gangs in Central America serve as a bellwether for potential criminal enterprises in the U.S.
Particularly noteworthy, Loosle said, was a spike in extortion rackets committed by gangs in El Salvador. Armed members of MS-13 regularly shake down neighborhoods for protection money and demand taxes from bus and truck drivers passing through their turf.
"Since members of gangs travel freely across borders, we need to pay attention to new trends they bring with them," Loosle said.
Sperisen Vernon said gangs in Guatemala are increasingly recruiting young children to deal drugs, stash dirty money and even kill rivals.
"It's much more complicated to jail minors," he said.
He and Avila Avilez both mentioned another disturbing trend: the spread of gang recruitment from the disillusioned poor to children from good homes who are too afraid to remain unaffiliated.
"There is a saying in some El Salvador neighborhoods," Avila Avilez said. "It is, 'If you're not in a gang, then you're against gangs.'"
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
International Summit on Gangs Hosted in Los Angeles
Los Angeles Summit Tackles International Gang Problem
By Mike O'Sullivan (Voice of America)
Los Angeles
08 February 2007
O'Sullivan report - Download 382k
Listen to O'Sullivan report
International law enforcement authorities now meeting in Los Angeles say the problem of violent street gangs crosses borders. VOA's Mike O'Sullivan reports, officials from Canada, Mexico, and Central America have joined their U.S. counterparts in a three-day gang summit ending Friday.
Authorities from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Belize are contending with street gangs that started in ethnic neighborhoods in Los Angeles, then expanded as criminal enterprises after convicted felons were deported to their home countries. Today, violent groups with names like MS-13 and the18th Street gang straddle the borders.
Stephen Tidwell runs the Los Angeles office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and says gangs are extending their reach in troubling ways.
"It is not so much new, as now that we have reached a point that there is such volume to it, and they have grown in their sophistication in how they are now running themselves," he said. "Their capacity to control areas, whether it be neighborhoods here or portions of neighborhoods and cities in Central and South America, they are learning every day how to do that better."
This week, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez and Salvadoran President Elias Antonio Saca announced cooperative efforts aimed at sharing intelligence, coordinating training and apprehending fugitive gang members.
Law enforcement officials who are meeting in Los Angeles hope to develop strategies to target the gang problem, which they say is pressing. In Central America, thousands of gang members engage in extortion and murder.
Antonio Villaraigosa
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa says gangs are responsible for most murders in his city, and more than two-thirds of its shootings.
As part of its new strategy, Los Angeles will publicize the names of the worst gangs that officials hope to dismantle. The approach has its critics, however, who worry the publicity will only glamorize the gangs.
The mayor believes, however, that a comprehensive strategy will make inroads with a problem that has plagued his city for decades.
"It is not a problem that we are going to address overnight," he said. "But if we address it comprehensively, if we address it local, state, and federal and even internationally, if we look at prevention, intervention, enforcement, as one continuum, we can address this issue."
He says gangs operate in some of the city's poorest neighborhoods, and that intensified law enforcement must be combined with job training and efforts to keep students in school.
Rocky Delgadillo
Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo grew up in a gang-infested neighborhood, but sees progress in the city's battle against gangs.
"Over the last five years here in Los Angeles, we have gone from 57,000 gang members, which is a huge number, down to 39,000," he said. "It is still way too many, but we have seen a 33 percent reduction in gang membership in LA. Some of the things that we are doing are working, so it gives me some hope that if we scale them up to the size of the problem, we might actually start to dismantle and disrupt the gangs."
He says in addition to stepped-up enforcement both in the United States and south of the border, the effort should target recruiters who try to bring young people into gangs, and offer alternatives to gangs for inner-city youngsters.
By Mike O'Sullivan (Voice of America)
Los Angeles
08 February 2007
O'Sullivan report - Download 382k
Listen to O'Sullivan report
International law enforcement authorities now meeting in Los Angeles say the problem of violent street gangs crosses borders. VOA's Mike O'Sullivan reports, officials from Canada, Mexico, and Central America have joined their U.S. counterparts in a three-day gang summit ending Friday.
Authorities from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Belize are contending with street gangs that started in ethnic neighborhoods in Los Angeles, then expanded as criminal enterprises after convicted felons were deported to their home countries. Today, violent groups with names like MS-13 and the18th Street gang straddle the borders.
Stephen Tidwell runs the Los Angeles office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and says gangs are extending their reach in troubling ways.
"It is not so much new, as now that we have reached a point that there is such volume to it, and they have grown in their sophistication in how they are now running themselves," he said. "Their capacity to control areas, whether it be neighborhoods here or portions of neighborhoods and cities in Central and South America, they are learning every day how to do that better."
This week, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez and Salvadoran President Elias Antonio Saca announced cooperative efforts aimed at sharing intelligence, coordinating training and apprehending fugitive gang members.
Law enforcement officials who are meeting in Los Angeles hope to develop strategies to target the gang problem, which they say is pressing. In Central America, thousands of gang members engage in extortion and murder.
Antonio Villaraigosa
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa says gangs are responsible for most murders in his city, and more than two-thirds of its shootings.
As part of its new strategy, Los Angeles will publicize the names of the worst gangs that officials hope to dismantle. The approach has its critics, however, who worry the publicity will only glamorize the gangs.
The mayor believes, however, that a comprehensive strategy will make inroads with a problem that has plagued his city for decades.
"It is not a problem that we are going to address overnight," he said. "But if we address it comprehensively, if we address it local, state, and federal and even internationally, if we look at prevention, intervention, enforcement, as one continuum, we can address this issue."
He says gangs operate in some of the city's poorest neighborhoods, and that intensified law enforcement must be combined with job training and efforts to keep students in school.
Rocky Delgadillo
Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo grew up in a gang-infested neighborhood, but sees progress in the city's battle against gangs.
"Over the last five years here in Los Angeles, we have gone from 57,000 gang members, which is a huge number, down to 39,000," he said. "It is still way too many, but we have seen a 33 percent reduction in gang membership in LA. Some of the things that we are doing are working, so it gives me some hope that if we scale them up to the size of the problem, we might actually start to dismantle and disrupt the gangs."
He says in addition to stepped-up enforcement both in the United States and south of the border, the effort should target recruiters who try to bring young people into gangs, and offer alternatives to gangs for inner-city youngsters.
How Much Do You Know About Gangs?: Take This Test
Why did your state legislature address the criminal street gang issue?
To maintain public order and safety.
To respond to the ever increasing crime caused by street gangs that threatens and terrorizes peaceful citizens.
To stop this mounting criminal activity.
To provide for increased penalties for those found guilty of criminal gang involvement and eliminate the patterns, profits, and property helping criminal street gang activity, including street gang recruitment.
What is a criminal gang?
It is a formal or informal ongoing organization, association, or group that has as one of its primary activities the committing of criminal or delinquent acts.
Who is a criminal gang member?
A person who meets two or more of these criteria:
Admits to criminal street gang membership;
Is identified as a gang member by a parent/guardian;
Is identified as a gang member by a documented reliable informant;
Reside/frequents a gang's area, adopts their style of dress, hand signs, or tattoos, and associates with known gang members;
Is identified as a gang member by an informant of previously untested reliability and such identification is corroborated by independent information;
Was arrested more than once in the company of identified gang member for offenses which are consistent with usual criminal street gang activity;
Is identified as a criminal street gang member by physical evidence such as photographs or other documentation;
Was stopped in the company of known criminal street gang members four or more times.
When we talk about the gang and security threat group subculture, what are the main gang categories or influences?
The world of gangs and threat groups can become very complex. Knowing this, it helps to divide these groups into some basic categories that will form a firm foundation to learning and understanding. Most gangs or STGs you will encounter will fall into one of these basic categories:
Street Gangs
Prison Gangs
White Supremacy Groups
Motorcycle/Biker Gangs
Subversive Groups
Cult Groups
Why is there a Security Threat Group Management program in the Department of Corrections?
To ensure the safe, secure, and orderly operations for staff, visitors, and inmate/offenders throughout the department by identifying, validating, and certifying STGs and their members and monitoring STG activities.
What is a Security Threat Group (STG)?
Formal or informal ongoing groups, gangs, organization or associations consisting of three or more members who have a common name or common identifying signs, colors, or symbols. A group whose members/associates engage in a pattern of gang activity or department rule violation.
What is a certified STG?
Inmate/offender groups, gangs, or organizations that are certified by the Threat Assessment Review Committee (TARC). Any group that presents a threat to the security and orderly operations of department facilities based on the group's activities, propensity for violence, documented acts, organizational structure, philosophy, and/or historical data from other jurisdictions or prison systems is designated as a certified STG.
Why do we call them STGs?
To eliminate any recognition these criminals may draw from publicity about their gang or its activities. Also, STG accurately describes how these groups can impact the security of institutional operations.
How does the STG member certification process work?
The STG validation process involves, but is not limited to:
Identifying individual gang members, not gangs themselves;
Observing behavior;
Locating graffiti;
Observing body markings;
Noticing certain clothing arrangements; and
Gathering intelligence from reliable sources.
Information collected is then assigned a point value through a validation work sheet. When a suspect reaches a certain point value, he/she is certified as either a suspect member or confirmed member based on their accumulated point value.
Can I get information about a specific inmate's gang involvement?
No. Although we are committed to sharing information related to gangs that are active within our state, specific intelligence related to a particular inmate's involvement is confidential and for law enforcement use only.
To maintain public order and safety.
To respond to the ever increasing crime caused by street gangs that threatens and terrorizes peaceful citizens.
To stop this mounting criminal activity.
To provide for increased penalties for those found guilty of criminal gang involvement and eliminate the patterns, profits, and property helping criminal street gang activity, including street gang recruitment.
What is a criminal gang?
It is a formal or informal ongoing organization, association, or group that has as one of its primary activities the committing of criminal or delinquent acts.
Who is a criminal gang member?
A person who meets two or more of these criteria:
Admits to criminal street gang membership;
Is identified as a gang member by a parent/guardian;
Is identified as a gang member by a documented reliable informant;
Reside/frequents a gang's area, adopts their style of dress, hand signs, or tattoos, and associates with known gang members;
Is identified as a gang member by an informant of previously untested reliability and such identification is corroborated by independent information;
Was arrested more than once in the company of identified gang member for offenses which are consistent with usual criminal street gang activity;
Is identified as a criminal street gang member by physical evidence such as photographs or other documentation;
Was stopped in the company of known criminal street gang members four or more times.
When we talk about the gang and security threat group subculture, what are the main gang categories or influences?
The world of gangs and threat groups can become very complex. Knowing this, it helps to divide these groups into some basic categories that will form a firm foundation to learning and understanding. Most gangs or STGs you will encounter will fall into one of these basic categories:
Street Gangs
Prison Gangs
White Supremacy Groups
Motorcycle/Biker Gangs
Subversive Groups
Cult Groups
Why is there a Security Threat Group Management program in the Department of Corrections?
To ensure the safe, secure, and orderly operations for staff, visitors, and inmate/offenders throughout the department by identifying, validating, and certifying STGs and their members and monitoring STG activities.
What is a Security Threat Group (STG)?
Formal or informal ongoing groups, gangs, organization or associations consisting of three or more members who have a common name or common identifying signs, colors, or symbols. A group whose members/associates engage in a pattern of gang activity or department rule violation.
What is a certified STG?
Inmate/offender groups, gangs, or organizations that are certified by the Threat Assessment Review Committee (TARC). Any group that presents a threat to the security and orderly operations of department facilities based on the group's activities, propensity for violence, documented acts, organizational structure, philosophy, and/or historical data from other jurisdictions or prison systems is designated as a certified STG.
Why do we call them STGs?
To eliminate any recognition these criminals may draw from publicity about their gang or its activities. Also, STG accurately describes how these groups can impact the security of institutional operations.
How does the STG member certification process work?
The STG validation process involves, but is not limited to:
Identifying individual gang members, not gangs themselves;
Observing behavior;
Locating graffiti;
Observing body markings;
Noticing certain clothing arrangements; and
Gathering intelligence from reliable sources.
Information collected is then assigned a point value through a validation work sheet. When a suspect reaches a certain point value, he/she is certified as either a suspect member or confirmed member based on their accumulated point value.
Can I get information about a specific inmate's gang involvement?
No. Although we are committed to sharing information related to gangs that are active within our state, specific intelligence related to a particular inmate's involvement is confidential and for law enforcement use only.
International Terrorism and U.S. Street Gangs: What Links Them?
Sandia National Laboratories is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia
Corporation, a Lockheed Martin Company, for the United States Department of Energy’s
National Nuclear Security Administration under Contract DE-AC04-94-AL85000
21 November 2002
Advanced Concepts Group
Sandia National Laboratories
SAND 2004-1104P
Unlimited Release
Terrorist Organizations
And Criminal Street Gangs
An argument for an analogy
Contacts:
Jessica Glicken Turnley (jgturnley@aol.com)
Julienne Smrcka (jsmrcka@salud.unm.edu)
Page Intentionally Blank
Terrorist Organizations and Criminal Street Gangs
An Argument for an Analogy
1
Introduction
The events of September 11, 2001, were horrific not just in the number of lives lost but in, the loss
of our sense of security as a nation. As one observer said, our failure was not an intelligence failure
but a failure of imagination. It seemed at the time inconceivable that such an attack could be made
on such powerful symbols.
Our efforts to understand what prompted the violence are hampered by a lack of knowledge about
terrorists, their motivations, and their potential for action. This lack of knowledge, to a large degree,
stems from a lack of data on terrorists. Such primary data that we have generally comes from
interviews of terrorists conducted under conditions of significant power imbalance (they are
prisoners). As a result, the results are highly suspect. Intelligence data, another important source,
generally is highly indirect and requires conclusion by inference.
To address the absence of data as we move forward with efforts to model terrorist groups and
activities, we have turned to the literature on criminal street gangs as an analog. Street gangs have
been studied for years by the behavioral and social science communities. There is much empirical
data available. Furthermore, the violence of the battles between gangs such as the Crips and the
Bloods in Los Angeles, for example, combined with the lessons learned from much of the empirically
based research, has led to successful trust-building campaigns and significant reductions in violent
behavior.
This essay is an exploration of the validity of the analogy between street gangs and terrorists. We
explore the theoretical approaches that have emerged from the data on gangs, and note similarities
to work done in the field of terrorism which has been developing theories based on little empirical
data. We conclude with a short position statement, stating our belief in the validity of the analogy
and describing a theoretical approach for our work.
General Background
Both street gangs and terrorist groups are non-corporate groups. They are not organized as formal
(legal) entities, so group leaders operate in different environments and with different kinds of
authority than do those in charge of corporate legal actor. As a different type of actor, street gangs
and terrorists also have different sets of actions available to them. Both terrorist groups and street
gangs often are self-identified, that is, legitimacy and identity are not conferred upon them by some
external body (they do not need to be ‘recognized’ by a larger community in order to act) but rather
are self-proclaimed. Membership in both gangs and terrorist organizations is an active proposition.
One does not become a member by virtue of (e.g.) birth, ethnicity, or residency, although there may
be exclusionary criteria (that is, there may be criteria which determine [in]eligibility for membership).
Rather, one becomes a member through some voluntary act, some act of choice. Both types of
groups (gangs and terrorist organizations) engage in criminal and, often, violent behavior. They thus
operate in an extra-legal environment and maintain an adversarial relationship with peace-keeping
interests.
Four general theoretical explanatory frameworks have emerged from empirical studies of gangs.
These theoretical frames also appear within the literature on terrorists and terrorist groups. They
have been applied to the more anecdotal and sparse body of data on terrorists and terrorist
Terrorist Organizations and Criminal Street Gangs
An Argument for an Analogy
2
organizations in ways similar to their application to the more empirical data found underpinning the
research on gangs. This discussion will review the approaches from the standpoint of the research
on gangs, and then reference leading writings in the field of terrorist research that correspond to
each set of groups.
We label our four approaches psychological, sociological, communicative, and power-based. The
later two (communicative and power-based) are instrumental in nature, that is, they see gangs as a
means to an end. The two former approaches (psychological and sociological) are causal and
explanatory frames, seeking to understand why these types of groups emerge and the forces that
keep them functioning as groups. It is important to realize that the more powerful treatments of
gangs use elements from both the instrumental and causal camps, and from both approaches within
each.
Psychological approach
The psychological approach focuses on the individual (the gang member). The research has looked
for a particular personality constellation or composite of psychological factors that characterize the
gang member such as self-esteem, family constellation, level of aggression, level of depression, and
level of impulse control. The underlying hypothesis is that gang members are psychologically
deviant, and exhibit psychopathological or sociopathological tendencies which cause them to join
these extra-legal, violent groups.
There has been a great deal of work in this arena, comparing early initiates in gangs to their nongang
peer groups. The research generally concludes that potential gang members do not differ in
significant ways from their peers in terms of psychological makeup. The percent of pathological
individuals in gangs seems to be roughly similar to that in the general population. It is important to
note, however, that psychological profiles will change with tenure in a gang. Long-term members
show greater tendencies toward pathologies.
Motivations for joining gangs often involve the development and/or expression of primary selfidentification.
Gang members usually do not belong to ‘mainstream society’ but rather to socially
marginal or economically disadvantaged groups. These marginal and/or disadvantaged groups are
usually defined by race or ethnicity, and occasionally by religion. As social success or ‘the good life’
is generally defined in terms of the dominant society rather than marginal groups, access to rewards
and the positive self-identification that comes with them is missing for the disadvantaged groups.
Potential gang members have few legitimate sources for positive self-validation and self-definition.
The gang, through its development of measures of success that are attainable for these individuals,
provides these opportunities. The gang also provides members with a sense of both individual
power and protection that is otherwise missing for them. It also provides members with a strong
code of morals. This is particularly apparent in gangs defined by religion or strongly identified with
religion that are characterized by religious iconography and rituals; however, the moral code is
present in all gangs and is often verbally affirmed by members. Note that these complexes of
behavior described above are particularly important for adolescents and young adults who are at a
stage where identity formation occurs.
Terrorist Organizations and Criminal Street Gangs
An Argument for an Analogy
3
In this explanatory frame, a gang member trades loyalty to the group for social and moral security
and the chance of success. His membership in the group is communicated by tangible marks such as
clothes, tattoos, and jewelry, and by performance marks such as vocabulary or speaking style,
participation in various rituals, and adherence to clearly defined and morally grounded codes of
behavior. Rites of passage provide explicit markers of status.
The terrorist literature parallels the street gang findings. The few interviews that have been
conducted with terrorists show that the terrorists also are low on the psychopathology scale. In the
rare cases where interviews have been conducted, terrorists state that their membership in the
terrorist group represented the first time in their lives that they have experienced a sense of
belonging. Literature on fundamentalist religious movements (the basis of the Middle Eastern
groups) supports this finding, suggesting that these types of fundamentalist movements gain
adherents in situations of rapid social change in which moral structures become unclear or
ambiguous, and the sense of community and the behavioral codes communities provide tends to
disintegrate. Terrorist interviews also reveal a propensity for the same type of black-and-white
thinking that characterizes the (usually adolescent) members of gangs.
Jerrold Post has been one of the strongest proponents of the psychological approaches to terrorism.
He has worked over many years to develop a complex of traits to characterize the terrorist, and in
particular, the terrorist leader. While there appears to be forensic value in this approach, there is a
great deal of dispute over the claim that he has developed anything that can be broadly applied in
the explanatory or causal arena.
Sociological approach
This moves us to the second theoretical frame, the sociological. This approach considers gangs as
social phenomena, and focuses not on individual members but on groups. It investigates the
environment from which members are recruited, looking for differences between that social milieu
and those which do not spawn gangs. It also is interested in the organization and structure of the
groups themselves. This research again is concerned with the marginalized or disadvantaged nature
of the populations from which gangs emerge. It is primarily concerned with understanding that
milieu and its effects on organization formation and operation.
Research on gangs has identified dysfunctional families, failed schools, and non-existent community
structures as hallmarks of the milieu in which gangs are found. This research reinforces the
importance of the marginal or disadvantaged nature of the populations from which gang members
are drawn. In this case, the interest is in the influence of these social environments on the formation
of groups rather than individual psyches. These social environments communicate messages of
success in terms that are inaccessible to the populations in these environments. This integrates well
with the psychological approach described above. If the macro-community marginalizes a group of
individuals or causes them to feel powerless, they will seek structures within which they can exercise
power and create such structures if they do not exist. If mainstream society offers no road to
success, it will be sought (or created) through alternative communities such as gangs.
This approach also offers some explanations for the use of violence by these groups. Law
enforcement or peace-keeping groups are often the most tangible representation of the forbidden
Terrorist Organizations and Criminal Street Gangs
An Argument for an Analogy
4
society with which gang members deal. They thus become a threat rather than a source of
reassurance, stability, or structure, hence the criminal or extra-legal nature of gangs. Furthermore,
gang members often come from environments where they have witnessed a high level of violence
(families and/or communities) and seen the success of violence as a coping strategy. Research has
also shown that access to weapons or the means of violence will increase the propensity for
violence.
This explanatory frame translates well to the Middle Eastern terrorist groups. The macroenvironment,
defined in this case by the ‘failed states’ of the Middle East, is unable to provide many
social services, including law and order, or physical or social infrastructures such as communications
or banking. However, opportunity is defined in Western terms (which require these services and
infrastructures) and is achieved through participation in a global community. Individuals feel set up
for failure. Islam (particularly fundamentalist Islam) and associated groups provide an alternative
vocabulary for success and an alternative mechanism for achieving it. Recall that religious
fundamentalism tends to arise among dislocated populations, offering community and structure in
an otherwise chaotic and animistic world. The integration of church and state offered by Islam
allows Islamic fundamentalism to attract members with the additional promise of a world more
amenable to social/political self-actualization than that offered by the current political regime. Note
that the mechanisms for social actualization offered by these types of groups are explicitly counter to
those offered by the ‘failed state,’ and hence are extra-legal and therefore deemed criminal.
Instrumental approaches
Instrumental approaches also focus on the group rather than the individual as the primary actor.
Both communicative explanations and power-oriented instrumentalism seek to explain why groups
use violence to achieve certain ends. Both approaches argue that individuals join groups such as
gangs because they feel that they are unheard as single voices, or lack the power as individuals to
achieve certain ends. To some extent, this does take us back to the individual actor and does engage
the psychological approach—but the primary explanatory power of these approaches is focused on
the power of the group vis-Ã -vis individuals, rather than on the type of individual that seeks to fill
some specified need or resource requirement. The instrumental approaches also draw heavily on the
sociological approach, for they begin from the premise that the group has no legal or legitimate
means to achieve its end and so must resort to extra-legal activities.
Communicative approach
Communicative explanations see violence as ‘theater.’ This approach is also called ‘performance
violence,’ where the goal is as much to have the act witnessed as it is to harm the victim. These types
of violent acts on the part of gangs often are scripted, and are carefully planned. The audience may
be other members of the perpetrator’s gang, members of a rival gang, or non-gang members of
society. Explanatory deconstructions of these types focus on discovering the ‘message’ behind the
performance. Note, again, that while the act may be performed by an individual, it is always
performed within the context of the group. It uses group-defined symbology, may be scripted, and is
always acknowledged. Mark Juergensmeyer and others have adopted similar approaches with
Terrorist Organizations and Criminal Street Gangs
An Argument for an Analogy
5
reference to terrorism, noting that the goal is not to harm the greatest number of individuals but to
have the violence witnessed by the greatest number. The media has become a key actor in these
scenarios
Power-oriented instrumentalism
Power-oriented instrumentalism grows out of the world of realpolitik, or realist politics. In this
environment, the world is seen as a collection of actors (which historically have been nation-states)
engaged in struggles for power. In a realm of failed communities (whether they be states or the city
of Los Angeles), there emerges a whole class of people who feel that they have no voice or power in
the competition for resources, however large or small the terms of that competition are written. In
those instances, non-corporate actors emerge…gangs, or terrorist organizations, which act on behalf
of these non-represented people. They use various tools, including violence, to attempt to redress
real or perceived grievances. Performance violence has an obvious role here. Martha Crenshaw has
made strong contributions to this approach.
Power-oriented instrumentalism takes us quickly back to the sociological approach. We need to
understand the environments that spawn large groups of disenfranchised peoples and how these
people get together to seek access to resources and so become players in the games of power.
Conclusions
Given the above similarities between the environments within which they arise, the structure of
organizations, and the motivations of individuals to join them, we argue that gangs are a legitimate
analog for terrorist and terrorist-like groups. The formation of both of these groups is stimulated by
the belief in a lack of opportunity for self-realization, a search for structure and moral order in what
appears to be a chaotic world, and the associated felt devaluation of self-identity. The groups
become a means to define that self, and to provide the resources and share the responsibility for acts
that will create a world within which these individuals can see hope and opportunity. In order for
that world to be created, the creators (the groups) must speak to someone, must have an audience
for their cause. Hence, violence as theater. Furthermore, because the individual is disenfranchised
and powerless in the world of the dominant culture, and because participation in the group allows
for the diffusion of responsibility for extra-legal acts, it is groups, not individuals, that wield power
and have legitimacy.
We believe that the most robust approach is one which combines elements from both types of
approaches (explanatory/causal and instrumental) and all dimensions of these. We thus subscribe
neither to ‘great man’ theories nor to ‘great times’ theories. Rather we are working with the concept
of socially embedded actors who use organizations as vehicles to achieve social and psychologically
driven ends. This is the approach that will be instantiated in the ‘Seldon’ computational model.
Corporation, a Lockheed Martin Company, for the United States Department of Energy’s
National Nuclear Security Administration under Contract DE-AC04-94-AL85000
21 November 2002
Advanced Concepts Group
Sandia National Laboratories
SAND 2004-1104P
Unlimited Release
Terrorist Organizations
And Criminal Street Gangs
An argument for an analogy
Contacts:
Jessica Glicken Turnley (jgturnley@aol.com)
Julienne Smrcka (jsmrcka@salud.unm.edu)
Page Intentionally Blank
Terrorist Organizations and Criminal Street Gangs
An Argument for an Analogy
1
Introduction
The events of September 11, 2001, were horrific not just in the number of lives lost but in, the loss
of our sense of security as a nation. As one observer said, our failure was not an intelligence failure
but a failure of imagination. It seemed at the time inconceivable that such an attack could be made
on such powerful symbols.
Our efforts to understand what prompted the violence are hampered by a lack of knowledge about
terrorists, their motivations, and their potential for action. This lack of knowledge, to a large degree,
stems from a lack of data on terrorists. Such primary data that we have generally comes from
interviews of terrorists conducted under conditions of significant power imbalance (they are
prisoners). As a result, the results are highly suspect. Intelligence data, another important source,
generally is highly indirect and requires conclusion by inference.
To address the absence of data as we move forward with efforts to model terrorist groups and
activities, we have turned to the literature on criminal street gangs as an analog. Street gangs have
been studied for years by the behavioral and social science communities. There is much empirical
data available. Furthermore, the violence of the battles between gangs such as the Crips and the
Bloods in Los Angeles, for example, combined with the lessons learned from much of the empirically
based research, has led to successful trust-building campaigns and significant reductions in violent
behavior.
This essay is an exploration of the validity of the analogy between street gangs and terrorists. We
explore the theoretical approaches that have emerged from the data on gangs, and note similarities
to work done in the field of terrorism which has been developing theories based on little empirical
data. We conclude with a short position statement, stating our belief in the validity of the analogy
and describing a theoretical approach for our work.
General Background
Both street gangs and terrorist groups are non-corporate groups. They are not organized as formal
(legal) entities, so group leaders operate in different environments and with different kinds of
authority than do those in charge of corporate legal actor. As a different type of actor, street gangs
and terrorists also have different sets of actions available to them. Both terrorist groups and street
gangs often are self-identified, that is, legitimacy and identity are not conferred upon them by some
external body (they do not need to be ‘recognized’ by a larger community in order to act) but rather
are self-proclaimed. Membership in both gangs and terrorist organizations is an active proposition.
One does not become a member by virtue of (e.g.) birth, ethnicity, or residency, although there may
be exclusionary criteria (that is, there may be criteria which determine [in]eligibility for membership).
Rather, one becomes a member through some voluntary act, some act of choice. Both types of
groups (gangs and terrorist organizations) engage in criminal and, often, violent behavior. They thus
operate in an extra-legal environment and maintain an adversarial relationship with peace-keeping
interests.
Four general theoretical explanatory frameworks have emerged from empirical studies of gangs.
These theoretical frames also appear within the literature on terrorists and terrorist groups. They
have been applied to the more anecdotal and sparse body of data on terrorists and terrorist
Terrorist Organizations and Criminal Street Gangs
An Argument for an Analogy
2
organizations in ways similar to their application to the more empirical data found underpinning the
research on gangs. This discussion will review the approaches from the standpoint of the research
on gangs, and then reference leading writings in the field of terrorist research that correspond to
each set of groups.
We label our four approaches psychological, sociological, communicative, and power-based. The
later two (communicative and power-based) are instrumental in nature, that is, they see gangs as a
means to an end. The two former approaches (psychological and sociological) are causal and
explanatory frames, seeking to understand why these types of groups emerge and the forces that
keep them functioning as groups. It is important to realize that the more powerful treatments of
gangs use elements from both the instrumental and causal camps, and from both approaches within
each.
Psychological approach
The psychological approach focuses on the individual (the gang member). The research has looked
for a particular personality constellation or composite of psychological factors that characterize the
gang member such as self-esteem, family constellation, level of aggression, level of depression, and
level of impulse control. The underlying hypothesis is that gang members are psychologically
deviant, and exhibit psychopathological or sociopathological tendencies which cause them to join
these extra-legal, violent groups.
There has been a great deal of work in this arena, comparing early initiates in gangs to their nongang
peer groups. The research generally concludes that potential gang members do not differ in
significant ways from their peers in terms of psychological makeup. The percent of pathological
individuals in gangs seems to be roughly similar to that in the general population. It is important to
note, however, that psychological profiles will change with tenure in a gang. Long-term members
show greater tendencies toward pathologies.
Motivations for joining gangs often involve the development and/or expression of primary selfidentification.
Gang members usually do not belong to ‘mainstream society’ but rather to socially
marginal or economically disadvantaged groups. These marginal and/or disadvantaged groups are
usually defined by race or ethnicity, and occasionally by religion. As social success or ‘the good life’
is generally defined in terms of the dominant society rather than marginal groups, access to rewards
and the positive self-identification that comes with them is missing for the disadvantaged groups.
Potential gang members have few legitimate sources for positive self-validation and self-definition.
The gang, through its development of measures of success that are attainable for these individuals,
provides these opportunities. The gang also provides members with a sense of both individual
power and protection that is otherwise missing for them. It also provides members with a strong
code of morals. This is particularly apparent in gangs defined by religion or strongly identified with
religion that are characterized by religious iconography and rituals; however, the moral code is
present in all gangs and is often verbally affirmed by members. Note that these complexes of
behavior described above are particularly important for adolescents and young adults who are at a
stage where identity formation occurs.
Terrorist Organizations and Criminal Street Gangs
An Argument for an Analogy
3
In this explanatory frame, a gang member trades loyalty to the group for social and moral security
and the chance of success. His membership in the group is communicated by tangible marks such as
clothes, tattoos, and jewelry, and by performance marks such as vocabulary or speaking style,
participation in various rituals, and adherence to clearly defined and morally grounded codes of
behavior. Rites of passage provide explicit markers of status.
The terrorist literature parallels the street gang findings. The few interviews that have been
conducted with terrorists show that the terrorists also are low on the psychopathology scale. In the
rare cases where interviews have been conducted, terrorists state that their membership in the
terrorist group represented the first time in their lives that they have experienced a sense of
belonging. Literature on fundamentalist religious movements (the basis of the Middle Eastern
groups) supports this finding, suggesting that these types of fundamentalist movements gain
adherents in situations of rapid social change in which moral structures become unclear or
ambiguous, and the sense of community and the behavioral codes communities provide tends to
disintegrate. Terrorist interviews also reveal a propensity for the same type of black-and-white
thinking that characterizes the (usually adolescent) members of gangs.
Jerrold Post has been one of the strongest proponents of the psychological approaches to terrorism.
He has worked over many years to develop a complex of traits to characterize the terrorist, and in
particular, the terrorist leader. While there appears to be forensic value in this approach, there is a
great deal of dispute over the claim that he has developed anything that can be broadly applied in
the explanatory or causal arena.
Sociological approach
This moves us to the second theoretical frame, the sociological. This approach considers gangs as
social phenomena, and focuses not on individual members but on groups. It investigates the
environment from which members are recruited, looking for differences between that social milieu
and those which do not spawn gangs. It also is interested in the organization and structure of the
groups themselves. This research again is concerned with the marginalized or disadvantaged nature
of the populations from which gangs emerge. It is primarily concerned with understanding that
milieu and its effects on organization formation and operation.
Research on gangs has identified dysfunctional families, failed schools, and non-existent community
structures as hallmarks of the milieu in which gangs are found. This research reinforces the
importance of the marginal or disadvantaged nature of the populations from which gang members
are drawn. In this case, the interest is in the influence of these social environments on the formation
of groups rather than individual psyches. These social environments communicate messages of
success in terms that are inaccessible to the populations in these environments. This integrates well
with the psychological approach described above. If the macro-community marginalizes a group of
individuals or causes them to feel powerless, they will seek structures within which they can exercise
power and create such structures if they do not exist. If mainstream society offers no road to
success, it will be sought (or created) through alternative communities such as gangs.
This approach also offers some explanations for the use of violence by these groups. Law
enforcement or peace-keeping groups are often the most tangible representation of the forbidden
Terrorist Organizations and Criminal Street Gangs
An Argument for an Analogy
4
society with which gang members deal. They thus become a threat rather than a source of
reassurance, stability, or structure, hence the criminal or extra-legal nature of gangs. Furthermore,
gang members often come from environments where they have witnessed a high level of violence
(families and/or communities) and seen the success of violence as a coping strategy. Research has
also shown that access to weapons or the means of violence will increase the propensity for
violence.
This explanatory frame translates well to the Middle Eastern terrorist groups. The macroenvironment,
defined in this case by the ‘failed states’ of the Middle East, is unable to provide many
social services, including law and order, or physical or social infrastructures such as communications
or banking. However, opportunity is defined in Western terms (which require these services and
infrastructures) and is achieved through participation in a global community. Individuals feel set up
for failure. Islam (particularly fundamentalist Islam) and associated groups provide an alternative
vocabulary for success and an alternative mechanism for achieving it. Recall that religious
fundamentalism tends to arise among dislocated populations, offering community and structure in
an otherwise chaotic and animistic world. The integration of church and state offered by Islam
allows Islamic fundamentalism to attract members with the additional promise of a world more
amenable to social/political self-actualization than that offered by the current political regime. Note
that the mechanisms for social actualization offered by these types of groups are explicitly counter to
those offered by the ‘failed state,’ and hence are extra-legal and therefore deemed criminal.
Instrumental approaches
Instrumental approaches also focus on the group rather than the individual as the primary actor.
Both communicative explanations and power-oriented instrumentalism seek to explain why groups
use violence to achieve certain ends. Both approaches argue that individuals join groups such as
gangs because they feel that they are unheard as single voices, or lack the power as individuals to
achieve certain ends. To some extent, this does take us back to the individual actor and does engage
the psychological approach—but the primary explanatory power of these approaches is focused on
the power of the group vis-Ã -vis individuals, rather than on the type of individual that seeks to fill
some specified need or resource requirement. The instrumental approaches also draw heavily on the
sociological approach, for they begin from the premise that the group has no legal or legitimate
means to achieve its end and so must resort to extra-legal activities.
Communicative approach
Communicative explanations see violence as ‘theater.’ This approach is also called ‘performance
violence,’ where the goal is as much to have the act witnessed as it is to harm the victim. These types
of violent acts on the part of gangs often are scripted, and are carefully planned. The audience may
be other members of the perpetrator’s gang, members of a rival gang, or non-gang members of
society. Explanatory deconstructions of these types focus on discovering the ‘message’ behind the
performance. Note, again, that while the act may be performed by an individual, it is always
performed within the context of the group. It uses group-defined symbology, may be scripted, and is
always acknowledged. Mark Juergensmeyer and others have adopted similar approaches with
Terrorist Organizations and Criminal Street Gangs
An Argument for an Analogy
5
reference to terrorism, noting that the goal is not to harm the greatest number of individuals but to
have the violence witnessed by the greatest number. The media has become a key actor in these
scenarios
Power-oriented instrumentalism
Power-oriented instrumentalism grows out of the world of realpolitik, or realist politics. In this
environment, the world is seen as a collection of actors (which historically have been nation-states)
engaged in struggles for power. In a realm of failed communities (whether they be states or the city
of Los Angeles), there emerges a whole class of people who feel that they have no voice or power in
the competition for resources, however large or small the terms of that competition are written. In
those instances, non-corporate actors emerge…gangs, or terrorist organizations, which act on behalf
of these non-represented people. They use various tools, including violence, to attempt to redress
real or perceived grievances. Performance violence has an obvious role here. Martha Crenshaw has
made strong contributions to this approach.
Power-oriented instrumentalism takes us quickly back to the sociological approach. We need to
understand the environments that spawn large groups of disenfranchised peoples and how these
people get together to seek access to resources and so become players in the games of power.
Conclusions
Given the above similarities between the environments within which they arise, the structure of
organizations, and the motivations of individuals to join them, we argue that gangs are a legitimate
analog for terrorist and terrorist-like groups. The formation of both of these groups is stimulated by
the belief in a lack of opportunity for self-realization, a search for structure and moral order in what
appears to be a chaotic world, and the associated felt devaluation of self-identity. The groups
become a means to define that self, and to provide the resources and share the responsibility for acts
that will create a world within which these individuals can see hope and opportunity. In order for
that world to be created, the creators (the groups) must speak to someone, must have an audience
for their cause. Hence, violence as theater. Furthermore, because the individual is disenfranchised
and powerless in the world of the dominant culture, and because participation in the group allows
for the diffusion of responsibility for extra-legal acts, it is groups, not individuals, that wield power
and have legitimacy.
We believe that the most robust approach is one which combines elements from both types of
approaches (explanatory/causal and instrumental) and all dimensions of these. We thus subscribe
neither to ‘great man’ theories nor to ‘great times’ theories. Rather we are working with the concept
of socially embedded actors who use organizations as vehicles to achieve social and psychologically
driven ends. This is the approach that will be instantiated in the ‘Seldon’ computational model.
Legislation: What the States Are Doing
Gang Participation
(Top)
Arizona (view all subjects for this state)
Arizona 13-2308. Participating in or Assisting a Criminal Syndicate; Leading or Participating in a Criminal Street Gang
F. Assisting a criminal syndicate is a class 4 felony. If committed for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with any criminal street gang with the intent to promote, further or assist any criminal conduct by the gang, assisting a criminal syndicate is a class 3 felony.
G. A person who violates subsection A, paragraph 1, 2, 3 or 4 of this section for the benefit of, at the direction of or in association with any criminal street gang, with the intent to promote, further or assist any criminal conduct by the gang, is guilty of a class 2 felony.
H. Use of a common name or common identifying sign or symbol shall be admissible and may be considered in proving the combination of persons or enterprises required by this section.
(Top)
California (view all subjects for this state)
California 186.22. Participation in a Criminal Street Gang; Punishment; Felony Conviction; Sentence Enhancement; Commission on or Near School Grounds; Pattern of Criminal Gang Activity
(a) Any person who actively participates in any criminal street gang with knowledge that its members engage in or have engaged in a pattern of criminal gang activity, and who willfully promotes, furthers, or assists in any felonious criminal conduct by members of that gang, shall be punished by imprisonment in a county jail for a period not to exceed one year, or by imprisonment in the state prison for 16 months, or two or three years.
(Top)
Georgia (view all subjects for this state)
Georgia 16-15-4. Participation in Criminal Street Gang Activity Prohibited
(a) It shall be unlawful for any person employed by or associated with a criminal street gang to conduct or participate in such criminal street gang through a pattern of criminal gang activity.
(b) It shall be unlawful for any person to acquire or maintain, directly or indirectly, through a pattern of criminal gang activity or proceeds derived there from any interest in or control of any real or personal property of any nature, including money.
(c) It shall be unlawful for any person who occupies a position of organizer, supervisory position, or any other position of management with regard to a criminal street gang to engage in, directly or indirectly, or conspire to engage in a pattern of criminal gang activity.
(d) It shall be unlawful for any person to cause, encourage, solicit, or coerce another to participate in a criminal street gang.
(e) It shall be unlawful for any person to communicate, directly or indirectly, with another any threat of injury or damage to the person or property of the other person or to any associate or relative of the other person with the intent to deter such person from assisting a member or associate of a criminal street gang to withdraw from such criminal street gang.
(f) It shall be unlawful for any person to communicate, directly or indirectly, with another any threat of injury or damage to the person or property of the other person or to any associate or relative of the other person with the intent to punish or retaliate against such person for having withdrawn from a criminal street gang.
(g)(1) Any person who violates subsection (a) or (b) of this Code section shall, in addition to any other penalty imposed by law, be punished by imprisonment for not less than three nor more than 15 years or by a fine of not less than $5,000.00 nor more than $10,000.00, or both.
(2) Any person who violates subsection (c) of this Code section may, in addition to any other penalty provided by law, be punished by imprisonment for an additional ten years which shall be served consecutively to any other sentence imposed on such person by law.
(3) Any person who violates subsection (d), (e), or (f) of this Code section shall, in addition to any other penalty provided by law, be punished by imprisonment for not less than one nor more than ten years.
(h) Any crime committed in violation of this Code section shall be considered a separate offense.
(Top)
Indiana (view all subjects for this state)
Indiana 31-30-1-4
(a) The juvenile court does not have jurisdiction over an individual for an alleged violation of:
(6) IC 35-42-5-2 (carjacking);
(7) IC 35-45-9-3 (criminal gang activity);
(8) IC 35-45-9-4 (criminal gang intimidation);
Indiana 35-45-9-3. Criminal Gang Activity
A person who knowingly or intentionally actively participates in a criminal gang commits criminal gang activity, a Class D felony.
(Top)
Iowa (view all subjects for this state)
Iowa 723A (723A.2). Criminal Gang Participation
A person who actively participates in or is a member of a criminal street gang and who willfully aids and abets any criminal act committed for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with any criminal street gang, commits a class "D" felony.
(Top)
Louisiana (view all subjects for this state)
Louisiana 15:1403. Criminal Street Gangs and Patterns of Criminal Street Gang Activity: Prohibitions and Criminal Penalties
A. Any person who intentionally directs, participates, conducts, furthers, or assists in the commission of a pattern of criminal gang activity as defined in this Chapter shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one year nor more than one-half of the maximum term of imprisonment provided for an underlying offense committed in a pattern of criminal gang activity and may be fined an amount not to exceed ten thousand dollars. Any sentence of imprisonment imposed pursuant to this Section shall be in addition and consecutive to any sentence imposed for an underlying offense committed in the pattern of criminal gang activity.
B. Any person who is convicted of a felony or an attempted felony which is committed for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with any criminal street gang, with the intent to promote, further, or assist in the affairs of a criminal gang, shall, upon conviction of that felony, in addition and consecutive to the punishment prescribed for the felony or attempted felony of which he or she has been convicted, be imprisoned for not less than one year nor more than one-half of the maximum term of imprisonment provided for that offense.
C. Any person who is convicted of an offense other than a felony which is committed for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with, any criminal street gang, with the specific intent to promote, further, or assist in any criminal conduct or enterprise by gang members, shall, in addition and consecutive to the penalty provided for that offense, be imprisoned for an additional period of six months.
D. The court may elect to suspend all or a part of any additional mandatory punishment or enhanced punishment provided for in this Chapter only in an unusual case where the interests of justice would best be served, and if the court specifies on the record and enters into the minutes the reasons that the interests of justice would best be served by that suspension of punishment.
(Top)
Minnesota (view all subjects for this state)
Minnesota 609.229. Crime Committed for Benefit of a Gang
Subd. 2. Crimes.
A person who commits a crime for the benefit of, at the direction of, in association with, or motivated by involvement with a criminal gang, with the intent to promote, further, or assist in criminal conduct by gang members is guilty of a crime and may be sentenced as provided in subdivision 3.
Subd. 3. Penalty.
(a) If the crime committed in violation of subdivision 2 is a felony, the statutory maximum for the crime is five years longer than the statutory maximum for the underlying crime.
(b) If the crime committed in violation of subdivision 2 is a misdemeanor, the person is guilty of a gross misdemeanor.
(c) If the crime committed in violation of subdivision 2 is a gross misdemeanor, the person is guilty of a felony and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than three years or to payment of a fine of not more than $15,000, or both.
(Top)
Missouri (view all subjects for this state)
Missouri 578.423. Participating knowingly in criminal street gang activities, penalty-persons between ages of fourteen and seventeen participating to be transferred to courts of general jurisdiction
Any person who actively participates in any criminal street gang with knowledge that its members engage in or have engaged in a pattern of criminal street gang activity, and who willfully promotes, furthers, or assists in any felonious criminal conduct by gang members shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail for a period not to exceed one year, or by imprisonment in a state correctional facility for one, two, or three years. For any person between the ages of fourteen and seventeen who is alleged to have violated the provisions of sections 578.421 to 578.437 the prosecuting attorney or circuit attorney may move for dismissal of a petition and transfer to a court of general jurisdiction.
(Top)
Ohio (view all subjects for this state)
Ohio 2923.42. Participating in Criminal Gang
(A) No person who actively participates in a criminal gang, with knowledge that the criminal gang engages in or has engaged in a pattern of criminal gang activity, shall purposely promote, further, or assist any criminal conduct, as defined in division (C) of section 2923.41 of the Revised Code, or shall purposely commit or engage in any act that constitutes criminal conduct, as defined in division (C) of section 2923.41 of the Revised Code.
(B) Whoever violates this section is guilty of participating in a criminal gang, a felony of the second degree.
(Top)
Texas (view all subjects for this state)
Texas 71-02. Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity
(a) A person commits an offense if, with the intent to establish, maintain, or participate in a combination or in the profits of a combination or as a member of a criminal street gang, he commits or conspires to commit one or more of the following:
(1) murder, capital murder, arson, aggravated robbery, robbery, burglary, theft, aggravated kidnapping, kidnapping, aggravated assault, aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault, or forgery;
(2) any felony gambling offense;
(3) promotion of prostitution, aggravated promotion of prostitution, or compelling prostitution;
(4) unlawful manufacture, transportation, repair, or sale of firearms or prohibited weapons;
(5) unlawful manufacture, delivery, dispensation or distribution of a controlled substance or dangerous drug, or unlawful possession of a controlled substance or dangerous drug through forgery, fraud, misrepresentation, or deception;
(6) any unlawful wholesale promotion or possession of any obscene material or obscene device with the intent to wholesale promote the same;
(7) any unlawful employment, authorization, or inducing of a child younger than 17 years of age in an obscene sexual performance;
(8) any felony offense under Chapter 32, Penal Code; or
(9) any offense under Chapter 36, Penal Code.
(b) Except as provided in Subsection c of this section, an offender under this section is one category higher than the most serious offense listed in Subdivision (1) through (9) of Subsection (a) of this section that was committed, and if the most serious offense is a Class A misdemeanor, the felony is an offense of the third degree, except that if the most serious offense is a felony of the first degree, the offense is a felony of the first degree.
(c) Conspiring to commit and offense under this section is of the same degree as the most serious offense listed in Subdivisions (1) through (9) of Subsection (a) of this section that the person conspired to commit.
Top | Index | NYGC Home | IIR Home
This page is located at: http://www.iir.com/nygc/gang-legis/gang_participation.htm
(Top)
Arizona (view all subjects for this state)
Arizona 13-2308. Participating in or Assisting a Criminal Syndicate; Leading or Participating in a Criminal Street Gang
F. Assisting a criminal syndicate is a class 4 felony. If committed for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with any criminal street gang with the intent to promote, further or assist any criminal conduct by the gang, assisting a criminal syndicate is a class 3 felony.
G. A person who violates subsection A, paragraph 1, 2, 3 or 4 of this section for the benefit of, at the direction of or in association with any criminal street gang, with the intent to promote, further or assist any criminal conduct by the gang, is guilty of a class 2 felony.
H. Use of a common name or common identifying sign or symbol shall be admissible and may be considered in proving the combination of persons or enterprises required by this section.
(Top)
California (view all subjects for this state)
California 186.22. Participation in a Criminal Street Gang; Punishment; Felony Conviction; Sentence Enhancement; Commission on or Near School Grounds; Pattern of Criminal Gang Activity
(a) Any person who actively participates in any criminal street gang with knowledge that its members engage in or have engaged in a pattern of criminal gang activity, and who willfully promotes, furthers, or assists in any felonious criminal conduct by members of that gang, shall be punished by imprisonment in a county jail for a period not to exceed one year, or by imprisonment in the state prison for 16 months, or two or three years.
(Top)
Georgia (view all subjects for this state)
Georgia 16-15-4. Participation in Criminal Street Gang Activity Prohibited
(a) It shall be unlawful for any person employed by or associated with a criminal street gang to conduct or participate in such criminal street gang through a pattern of criminal gang activity.
(b) It shall be unlawful for any person to acquire or maintain, directly or indirectly, through a pattern of criminal gang activity or proceeds derived there from any interest in or control of any real or personal property of any nature, including money.
(c) It shall be unlawful for any person who occupies a position of organizer, supervisory position, or any other position of management with regard to a criminal street gang to engage in, directly or indirectly, or conspire to engage in a pattern of criminal gang activity.
(d) It shall be unlawful for any person to cause, encourage, solicit, or coerce another to participate in a criminal street gang.
(e) It shall be unlawful for any person to communicate, directly or indirectly, with another any threat of injury or damage to the person or property of the other person or to any associate or relative of the other person with the intent to deter such person from assisting a member or associate of a criminal street gang to withdraw from such criminal street gang.
(f) It shall be unlawful for any person to communicate, directly or indirectly, with another any threat of injury or damage to the person or property of the other person or to any associate or relative of the other person with the intent to punish or retaliate against such person for having withdrawn from a criminal street gang.
(g)(1) Any person who violates subsection (a) or (b) of this Code section shall, in addition to any other penalty imposed by law, be punished by imprisonment for not less than three nor more than 15 years or by a fine of not less than $5,000.00 nor more than $10,000.00, or both.
(2) Any person who violates subsection (c) of this Code section may, in addition to any other penalty provided by law, be punished by imprisonment for an additional ten years which shall be served consecutively to any other sentence imposed on such person by law.
(3) Any person who violates subsection (d), (e), or (f) of this Code section shall, in addition to any other penalty provided by law, be punished by imprisonment for not less than one nor more than ten years.
(h) Any crime committed in violation of this Code section shall be considered a separate offense.
(Top)
Indiana (view all subjects for this state)
Indiana 31-30-1-4
(a) The juvenile court does not have jurisdiction over an individual for an alleged violation of:
(6) IC 35-42-5-2 (carjacking);
(7) IC 35-45-9-3 (criminal gang activity);
(8) IC 35-45-9-4 (criminal gang intimidation);
Indiana 35-45-9-3. Criminal Gang Activity
A person who knowingly or intentionally actively participates in a criminal gang commits criminal gang activity, a Class D felony.
(Top)
Iowa (view all subjects for this state)
Iowa 723A (723A.2). Criminal Gang Participation
A person who actively participates in or is a member of a criminal street gang and who willfully aids and abets any criminal act committed for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with any criminal street gang, commits a class "D" felony.
(Top)
Louisiana (view all subjects for this state)
Louisiana 15:1403. Criminal Street Gangs and Patterns of Criminal Street Gang Activity: Prohibitions and Criminal Penalties
A. Any person who intentionally directs, participates, conducts, furthers, or assists in the commission of a pattern of criminal gang activity as defined in this Chapter shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one year nor more than one-half of the maximum term of imprisonment provided for an underlying offense committed in a pattern of criminal gang activity and may be fined an amount not to exceed ten thousand dollars. Any sentence of imprisonment imposed pursuant to this Section shall be in addition and consecutive to any sentence imposed for an underlying offense committed in the pattern of criminal gang activity.
B. Any person who is convicted of a felony or an attempted felony which is committed for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with any criminal street gang, with the intent to promote, further, or assist in the affairs of a criminal gang, shall, upon conviction of that felony, in addition and consecutive to the punishment prescribed for the felony or attempted felony of which he or she has been convicted, be imprisoned for not less than one year nor more than one-half of the maximum term of imprisonment provided for that offense.
C. Any person who is convicted of an offense other than a felony which is committed for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with, any criminal street gang, with the specific intent to promote, further, or assist in any criminal conduct or enterprise by gang members, shall, in addition and consecutive to the penalty provided for that offense, be imprisoned for an additional period of six months.
D. The court may elect to suspend all or a part of any additional mandatory punishment or enhanced punishment provided for in this Chapter only in an unusual case where the interests of justice would best be served, and if the court specifies on the record and enters into the minutes the reasons that the interests of justice would best be served by that suspension of punishment.
(Top)
Minnesota (view all subjects for this state)
Minnesota 609.229. Crime Committed for Benefit of a Gang
Subd. 2. Crimes.
A person who commits a crime for the benefit of, at the direction of, in association with, or motivated by involvement with a criminal gang, with the intent to promote, further, or assist in criminal conduct by gang members is guilty of a crime and may be sentenced as provided in subdivision 3.
Subd. 3. Penalty.
(a) If the crime committed in violation of subdivision 2 is a felony, the statutory maximum for the crime is five years longer than the statutory maximum for the underlying crime.
(b) If the crime committed in violation of subdivision 2 is a misdemeanor, the person is guilty of a gross misdemeanor.
(c) If the crime committed in violation of subdivision 2 is a gross misdemeanor, the person is guilty of a felony and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than three years or to payment of a fine of not more than $15,000, or both.
(Top)
Missouri (view all subjects for this state)
Missouri 578.423. Participating knowingly in criminal street gang activities, penalty-persons between ages of fourteen and seventeen participating to be transferred to courts of general jurisdiction
Any person who actively participates in any criminal street gang with knowledge that its members engage in or have engaged in a pattern of criminal street gang activity, and who willfully promotes, furthers, or assists in any felonious criminal conduct by gang members shall be punished by imprisonment in the county jail for a period not to exceed one year, or by imprisonment in a state correctional facility for one, two, or three years. For any person between the ages of fourteen and seventeen who is alleged to have violated the provisions of sections 578.421 to 578.437 the prosecuting attorney or circuit attorney may move for dismissal of a petition and transfer to a court of general jurisdiction.
(Top)
Ohio (view all subjects for this state)
Ohio 2923.42. Participating in Criminal Gang
(A) No person who actively participates in a criminal gang, with knowledge that the criminal gang engages in or has engaged in a pattern of criminal gang activity, shall purposely promote, further, or assist any criminal conduct, as defined in division (C) of section 2923.41 of the Revised Code, or shall purposely commit or engage in any act that constitutes criminal conduct, as defined in division (C) of section 2923.41 of the Revised Code.
(B) Whoever violates this section is guilty of participating in a criminal gang, a felony of the second degree.
(Top)
Texas (view all subjects for this state)
Texas 71-02. Engaging in Organized Criminal Activity
(a) A person commits an offense if, with the intent to establish, maintain, or participate in a combination or in the profits of a combination or as a member of a criminal street gang, he commits or conspires to commit one or more of the following:
(1) murder, capital murder, arson, aggravated robbery, robbery, burglary, theft, aggravated kidnapping, kidnapping, aggravated assault, aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault, or forgery;
(2) any felony gambling offense;
(3) promotion of prostitution, aggravated promotion of prostitution, or compelling prostitution;
(4) unlawful manufacture, transportation, repair, or sale of firearms or prohibited weapons;
(5) unlawful manufacture, delivery, dispensation or distribution of a controlled substance or dangerous drug, or unlawful possession of a controlled substance or dangerous drug through forgery, fraud, misrepresentation, or deception;
(6) any unlawful wholesale promotion or possession of any obscene material or obscene device with the intent to wholesale promote the same;
(7) any unlawful employment, authorization, or inducing of a child younger than 17 years of age in an obscene sexual performance;
(8) any felony offense under Chapter 32, Penal Code; or
(9) any offense under Chapter 36, Penal Code.
(b) Except as provided in Subsection c of this section, an offender under this section is one category higher than the most serious offense listed in Subdivision (1) through (9) of Subsection (a) of this section that was committed, and if the most serious offense is a Class A misdemeanor, the felony is an offense of the third degree, except that if the most serious offense is a felony of the first degree, the offense is a felony of the first degree.
(c) Conspiring to commit and offense under this section is of the same degree as the most serious offense listed in Subdivisions (1) through (9) of Subsection (a) of this section that the person conspired to commit.
Top | Index | NYGC Home | IIR Home
This page is located at: http://www.iir.com/nygc/gang-legis/gang_participation.htm
Los Angeles' Police Chief Takes Aim at Gangs
L.A. police chief takes aim at gang crime
By Patrick McGreevy, Times Staff Writer
February 6, 2007
Police Chief William J. Bratton said Monday he is putting the finishing touches on a plan to reverse the recent increases in gang-related crime in Los Angeles.
Gang crime climbed 14% last year.
The chief testified before a City Council panel Monday that he and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa would announce a plan Thursday to crack down on the 10 to 20 worst gangs in the city.
"The initiative would include a cooperative effort with federal and local law enforcement and prosecutors," Bratton said.
"We believe that this level of coordination, some creativity and some of the activities we will engage in with the city attorney, district attorney and U.S. attorney will allow us to very quickly reverse the upward trend we saw last year, and at the end of 2007 see a decrease overall in that form of crime," Bratton said.
Councilman Jack Weiss, chairman of the council's Public Safety Committee, said he has already noticed changes in police deployment to deal with gang hot spots.
"You have been surging different sets of officers into different areas of the city," Weiss said.
Assistant Police Chief Earl Paysinger told the council he is focusing this year on reducing major traffic accidents and fatalities, especially in the San Fernando Valley, where they have reached unusually high levels.
Overall, Paysinger said the goal of the department is a 5% decline in serious crime this year. The city is off to good start, he said, noting that homicides are down 32% compared with a year ago.
By Patrick McGreevy, Times Staff Writer
February 6, 2007
Police Chief William J. Bratton said Monday he is putting the finishing touches on a plan to reverse the recent increases in gang-related crime in Los Angeles.
Gang crime climbed 14% last year.
The chief testified before a City Council panel Monday that he and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa would announce a plan Thursday to crack down on the 10 to 20 worst gangs in the city.
"The initiative would include a cooperative effort with federal and local law enforcement and prosecutors," Bratton said.
"We believe that this level of coordination, some creativity and some of the activities we will engage in with the city attorney, district attorney and U.S. attorney will allow us to very quickly reverse the upward trend we saw last year, and at the end of 2007 see a decrease overall in that form of crime," Bratton said.
Councilman Jack Weiss, chairman of the council's Public Safety Committee, said he has already noticed changes in police deployment to deal with gang hot spots.
"You have been surging different sets of officers into different areas of the city," Weiss said.
Assistant Police Chief Earl Paysinger told the council he is focusing this year on reducing major traffic accidents and fatalities, especially in the San Fernando Valley, where they have reached unusually high levels.
Overall, Paysinger said the goal of the department is a 5% decline in serious crime this year. The city is off to good start, he said, noting that homicides are down 32% compared with a year ago.
L.A. Prosecutor, in Unprecedented Move, Plans Attack on Gangs
L.A. city attorney assigns prosecutor to school in gang area
Delgadillo says the official will help identify and eliminate crime problems in the Markham Middle School neighborhood.
By Patrick McGreevy, Times Staff Writer
February 2, 2007
Targeting a South Los Angeles school plagued by gang crime, Los Angeles City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo said Thursday that he was assigning a prosecutor to Markham Middle School to help identify and eliminate gang problems in the surrounding neighborhood.
The prosecutor will coordinate enforcement efforts against seven local gangs as well as oversee sweeps for truants and parole violators in the area.
"Hopefully, we can make the neighborhood in and around Markham safer," Delgadillo said. "Kids can't learn if they are always afraid."
Delgadillo also announced that Majestic Realty was providing school uniforms for those at the 1,600-student middle school who can't afford them. About 85% of the students now wear uniforms, Principal Verna Stroud said.
Stroud said she appreciated any help that the city attorney's office and others could provide.
"We always welcome people who are looking out for the safety of our students," she said. "We are looking at this as prevention."
The neighborhood around Markham has been designated as a school safety zone because crime is so bad. The zone, which stretches 1,000 feet in every direction from the campus, has seen eight homicides, including three drive-by shootings in the last three years, and 145 assaults with deadly weapons.
The area is home to rival street gangs, including the Bounty Hunters, Grape Street Crips and South Side Village Boys.
Many students from the school are at risk of joining gangs. The school has issued 6,352 suspensions to students in the last six years.
*
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
patrick.mcgreevy@latimes.com
Delgadillo says the official will help identify and eliminate crime problems in the Markham Middle School neighborhood.
By Patrick McGreevy, Times Staff Writer
February 2, 2007
Targeting a South Los Angeles school plagued by gang crime, Los Angeles City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo said Thursday that he was assigning a prosecutor to Markham Middle School to help identify and eliminate gang problems in the surrounding neighborhood.
The prosecutor will coordinate enforcement efforts against seven local gangs as well as oversee sweeps for truants and parole violators in the area.
"Hopefully, we can make the neighborhood in and around Markham safer," Delgadillo said. "Kids can't learn if they are always afraid."
Delgadillo also announced that Majestic Realty was providing school uniforms for those at the 1,600-student middle school who can't afford them. About 85% of the students now wear uniforms, Principal Verna Stroud said.
Stroud said she appreciated any help that the city attorney's office and others could provide.
"We always welcome people who are looking out for the safety of our students," she said. "We are looking at this as prevention."
The neighborhood around Markham has been designated as a school safety zone because crime is so bad. The zone, which stretches 1,000 feet in every direction from the campus, has seen eight homicides, including three drive-by shootings in the last three years, and 145 assaults with deadly weapons.
The area is home to rival street gangs, including the Bounty Hunters, Grape Street Crips and South Side Village Boys.
Many students from the school are at risk of joining gangs. The school has issued 6,352 suspensions to students in the last six years.
*
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
patrick.mcgreevy@latimes.com
United States Code 521
§ 521. Criminal street gangs
Release date: 2005-08-03
(a) Definitions.—
“conviction” includes a finding, under State or Federal law, that a person has committed an act of juvenile delinquency involving a violent or controlled substances felony.
“criminal street gang” means an ongoing group, club, organization, or association of 5 or more persons—
(A) that has as 1 of its primary purposes the commission of 1 or more of the criminal offenses described in subsection (c);
(B) the members of which engage, or have engaged within the past 5 years, in a continuing series of offenses described in subsection (c); and
(C) the activities of which affect interstate or foreign commerce.
“State” means a State of the United States, the District of Columbia, and any commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United States.
(b) Penalty.— The sentence of a person convicted of an offense described in subsection (c) shall be increased by up to 10 years if the offense is committed under the circumstances described in subsection (d).
(c) Offenses.— The offenses described in this section are—
(1) a Federal felony involving a controlled substance (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802)) for which the maximum penalty is not less than 5 years;
(2) a Federal felony crime of violence that has as an element the use or attempted use of physical force against the person of another; and
(3) a conspiracy to commit an offense described in paragraph (1) or (2).
(d) Circumstances.— The circumstances described in this section are that the offense described in subsection (c) was committed by a person who—
(1) participates in a criminal street gang with knowledge that its members engage in or have engaged in a continuing series of offenses described in subsection (c);
(2) intends to promote or further the felonious activities of the criminal street gang or maintain or increase his or her position in the gang; and
(3) has been convicted within the past 5 years for—
(A) an offense described in subsection (c);
(B) a State offense—
(i) involving a controlled substance (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802)) for which the maximum penalty is not less than 5 years’ imprisonment; or
(ii) that is a felony crime of violence that has as an element the use or attempted use of physical force against the person of another;
(C) any Federal or State felony offense that by its nature involves a substantial risk that physical force against the person of another may be used in the course of committing the offense; or
(D) a conspiracy to commit an offense described in subparagraph (A), (B), or (C).
Release date: 2005-08-03
(a) Definitions.—
“conviction” includes a finding, under State or Federal law, that a person has committed an act of juvenile delinquency involving a violent or controlled substances felony.
“criminal street gang” means an ongoing group, club, organization, or association of 5 or more persons—
(A) that has as 1 of its primary purposes the commission of 1 or more of the criminal offenses described in subsection (c);
(B) the members of which engage, or have engaged within the past 5 years, in a continuing series of offenses described in subsection (c); and
(C) the activities of which affect interstate or foreign commerce.
“State” means a State of the United States, the District of Columbia, and any commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United States.
(b) Penalty.— The sentence of a person convicted of an offense described in subsection (c) shall be increased by up to 10 years if the offense is committed under the circumstances described in subsection (d).
(c) Offenses.— The offenses described in this section are—
(1) a Federal felony involving a controlled substance (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802)) for which the maximum penalty is not less than 5 years;
(2) a Federal felony crime of violence that has as an element the use or attempted use of physical force against the person of another; and
(3) a conspiracy to commit an offense described in paragraph (1) or (2).
(d) Circumstances.— The circumstances described in this section are that the offense described in subsection (c) was committed by a person who—
(1) participates in a criminal street gang with knowledge that its members engage in or have engaged in a continuing series of offenses described in subsection (c);
(2) intends to promote or further the felonious activities of the criminal street gang or maintain or increase his or her position in the gang; and
(3) has been convicted within the past 5 years for—
(A) an offense described in subsection (c);
(B) a State offense—
(i) involving a controlled substance (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act (21 U.S.C. 802)) for which the maximum penalty is not less than 5 years’ imprisonment; or
(ii) that is a felony crime of violence that has as an element the use or attempted use of physical force against the person of another;
(C) any Federal or State felony offense that by its nature involves a substantial risk that physical force against the person of another may be used in the course of committing the offense; or
(D) a conspiracy to commit an offense described in subparagraph (A), (B), or (C).
Fighting Street Gangs: It's Either Them or Us!
Combating Street Gangs
An important piece of the juvenile justice reform movement in this Nation has been devoted to finding new ways to reduce gang-related crime and violence. A number of States have enacted laws that enhance the penalties for gang-related offenses, and many local jurisdictions have adopted ordinances that are designed to curb or outlaw gang-related activities. Federal authorities and local law enforcement agencies also have combined resources to create multijurisdictional task forces and other bodies to investigate and prosecute gang members. Meanwhile, a host of prevention and intervention measures have been implemented in the schools to dissuade children and adolescents from joining gangs and engaging in crime and violence.
The term "gang" has no fixed legal meaning.94 Definitions of gangs have varied over time, according to the perceptions and interests of the definer, academic fashions, and the changing social reality of the gang. Once even defined as "play groups," the term gang has increasingly taken on pejorative connotations. In the most recent view, gangs are considered more pathological than functional organizations, so that the term has become almost synonymous with violent and criminal groups.95 Therefore, inherent in most recent definitions of a gang is the idea of criminality. Under one definition, a group is considered a gang if it has a formal organizational structure, identifiable leadership, identifiable territory, and recurrent interaction, and is engaged in serious or violent criminal behavior. 96
This view of gangs -- as pathological and criminal -- underlies many of the initiatives that States and local jurisdictions have adopted in the past decade. Because many acts of juvenile delinquency are committed by groups, the notion of juvenile delinquency has become closely associated with gang activity. Still, without an accepted definition to fall back on, State and local jurisdictions have tended to develop their own ideas of what constitutes "gang activity."
California, for example, defines "criminal street gang" as an ongoing organization, association, or group of three or more persons whose primary activities include the commission of one or more serious or violent criminal acts; that has a common name or identifying sign or symbol; and "whose members individually or collectively . . . have engaged in a pattern of criminal gang activity."97
The Spread of Gangs
By the early 1980's, gangs had sprung up in most of the large cities in the Nation, especially in the poorer inner-city and ring-city areas. In 1989, delinquent gangs were located in almost all 50 States. Together, 35 cities reported 1,439 gangs, with California, Florida, and Illinois leading the Nation in gang concentrations. Of the total 120,636 gang members reported in all surveyed cities, 70,000 were estimated to reside in Los Angeles County and 12,000 in Chicago.98 As of 1991, an estimated 4,881 gangs with 249,324 members existed across the Nation.99
Using the results of a 1993 national survey of law enforcement agencies, researchers estimated that the number of gangs jumped 77 percent between 1991 and 1993 to 8,625 gangs. They put the number of gang members at 378,807 and estimated that there were 437,066 gang-related crimes. Researchers, however, noted that the gang-crime problem is underestimated because many cities do not have the capacity to compile statistics and report on gang-related criminal activity. If estimates for the missing jurisdictions are included in their calculations, researchers put the number of gangs at 16,643, the number of gang members at more than 555,181, and the number of gang-related crimes at 580,331.100
Less urban areas are no longer safe from the infiltration of gangs and gang violence. Although some of the gangs are branches of megagangs, such as Los Angeles' Crips and Bloods, most gangs in midsized or smaller cities either originate locally or "are started by nonresident gang members via kinship, alliance, expansion of turf boundaries, or movement of gang members' families into new areas."101 The FBI and local police have reported the presence of Crips and Bloods in as many as 45 western and midwestern cities.102 Again, family migration, not relocation, appears to be the main reason for the emergence of gangs in smaller cities.103
The average gang is composed of males, ages 12 to 21, who reside in poor, central areas of cities with populations of more than 200,000. Although research on gang ethnicity is sketchy at best, one survey of gangs in large cities indicated that approximately 48 percent of all gang members are African-American, 43 percent Hispanic, 5 percent Asian, and 5 percent white.104
Gangs, Drugs, and Violence
Little empirical research exists on gang involvement in drug trafficking. One 1991 study in Los Angeles found that while as many as one-quarter of gang members were somehow involved in crack cocaine distribution, drug trafficking was not a primary gang activity.105 News media accounts and conventional wisdom have linked inner-city violence to gang drug wars, but research has shown that most inner-city homicides are the result of turf battles, not drug violence.
In a 1995 study of Pomona and Pasadena, CA, two smaller cities outside Los Angeles, gang members were found to be involved in about 27 percent of arrests for cocaine sales and about 12 percent of the arrests for sales of other drugs. Crack cocaine was often present in gang cases, and gang-related drug cases were more likely to involve young African-American males than members of other age or racial groups. However, most aspects of cocaine sales, including location, firearm presence, and amount of cash, did not vary because of gang involvement. Firearms were involved in only 10 percent of the cases, and violence was present in only 5 percent of the incidents.106
A 1993 study of the four largest and most criminally active street gangs found only 8 of the 285 gang-motivated homicides between 1987 and 1990 to be related to drugs. Approximately 90 percent of the violent crimes involving youth gangs in the Boston area between 1984 and 1994 did not involve drug dealing or drug use.107
Approaches to Gang Control and Intervention
Gang problems traditionally have been local, urban problems, and governmental responses to gang problems traditionally have been focused at the local level. Yet, while the past decade has been marked by the spread of gangs and gang-related violence, it has also seen the growing confluence of Federal, State, and local efforts to control gang activity and reduce gang violence. Moreover, it has seen the rise of more proactive, community-based strategies for dealing with gangs.
Three general strategies for preventing gangs have been evaluated: preventing youth from joining gangs, transforming existing gangs into neighborhood clubs, and mediating and intervening in conflicts between gangs. Of the three approaches, prevention programs that integrate school curriculums with afterschool recreational activities seem to hold the most promise for preventing gang crime and violence.108
In areas where gang problems are endemic, such as Los Angeles County, prevention and intervention strategies combined with long-term, proactive investigations of entire gangs work better than reactive, short-term investigations and prosecutions of individual gang members.109
State Initiatives
States have done their part in the fight against gangs by enhancing penalties for gang-related crime and fostering cooperation between jurisdictions and disciplines. Illinois, for example, has adopted a coordinated, holistic approach to addressing gang problems. In 1995, Governor Jim Edgar established by executive order the 35-member Governor's Commission on Gangs, with Attorney General Jim Ryan serving as chairman. The commission was composed of Federal and State prosecutors, police, educators, parents, clergy, health professionals, lawmakers, and representatives of business and labor.110
The commission has held 16 public hearings, a youth forum, and a 2-day conference at locales across the State, gathering testimony from nearly 150 witnesses. As a result of commission findings and recommendations, the Governor, in June 1996, signed legislation drafted by the commission establishing a witness protection program. He also appropriated $1 million for a pilot program, which will run through June 1998, to protect victims and witnesses who testify against gang members. The new law includes strict sanctions for gang members who commit crimes, including an imposition of harsher penalties for gang leaders convicted of drug dealing and mandatory reporting of any firearm-related incidents at public schools to law enforcement with-in 24 hours. The commission is expected to issue a report that will stress the need for get-tough measures balanced by more intervention and prevention programs.
Another recent antigang measure from Illinois creates offenses for compelling another to join a gang or deterring resignation from a gang. Moreover, the State has enacted a law that prohibits a person who has coerced another to join a gang from receiving probation, a conditional discharge, or periodic imprisonment.111
Enhanced sentencing is yet another State response to combating crime committed by gangs and gang members. Arkansas and California, among other States, have increased the penalties for specific gang-related violence, such as drive-by shootings. In September 1996, California Governor Pete Wilson signed a law extending indefinitely the California Street Terrorism Enforcement and Prevention Act, which was due to expire in January 1997 and which enhances penalties for gang-related activities.112
Other States have enacted statutes that enhance penalties for any criminal act committed by a gang member. For example, Tennessee enacted a law that adds criminal street gang membership as an enhancement factor for sentencing defendants who have committed a prior offense within the past 3 years. Provisions of a Nevada law include forfeiture of personal property that has been used in a gang crime and authorize schools to enforce antigang rules and develop gang-prevention problems.113
Local Initiatives
Local jurisdictions have a number of law enforcement approaches to controlling gang activity and reducing gang-related crime.114 Cities have passed ordinances prohibiting cruising, loitering, and many forms of belligerent public behavior, such as discharging weapons on private property, consuming alcohol in public, and playing loud music. Other cities have cracked down on graffiti and other forms of vandalism by regulating the sale, purchase, or possession of materials used to deface property115 and by adopting parental responsibility laws that make parents liable for the damage illegally caused by their children.116 Still other cities closely enforce truancy and curfew ordinances.
Some cities have attempted to discourage gang membership by prohibiting behavior that manifests gang membership, such as wearing gang colors or using gestures that communicate gang affiliation. For example, the city of Harvard, IL, prohibits individuals from wearing gang-related colors, emblems, or insignia in public or from making any utterances or gestures that communicate gang membership or insult to other street gangs. Since the ordinance became effective, the number of gang-related arrests has decreased from 87 in 1994 to 0 as of July 11, 1996.117
To control gang-related violence in and near public housing projects, housing authorities are authorized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to insert provisions into leases prohibiting the use, display, or possession of firearms. Gang members or family members and associates of gang members face eviction if caught using or possessing guns.118 Cities also have passed temporary ordinances banning access by gang members to public parks that have been the sites of confrontations between gangs.
Other cities have sought civil injunctions against gangs as "unincorporated associations" that prohibit targeted gang members from congregating in certain areas. Prosecutors in Los Angeles and nearby cities have implemented four gang injunctions, serving gang members with court documents and discussing with them activities prohibited by the court. Before a civil injunction against the Blythe Street Gang in April 1993, drive-by shootings were a weekly occurrence and a neighborhood grocery store was forced to close down. Since the injunction, the store is back, and at least a year has passed between drive-by shootings. A local community organization has received a major grant to make improvements to the neighborhood.119
Multijurisdictional Initiatives
Many counties and cities have found success in pooling resources with Federal and State agencies to fight and control gangs and gang-related violence. With the size and diversity of its gang problem, California, particularly Los Angeles County, has become a national leader in developing and implementing gang initiatives that draw on both Federal and local resources.
An estimated 150,000 members belong to more than 1,000 gang factions in the Los Angeles area, according to media reports. The Los Angeles Times reported that gang-related murders have accounted for roughly 40 percent of homicides in Los Angeles County in recent years. Although there has been an on-again, off-again truce between the two major gang divisions, the Crips and the Bloods, since the rioting surrounding the Rodney King verdict in the summer of 1992, gang-related violent crime continues to plague the region.120
As a response, Federal officials, in cooperation with local law enforcement authorities, launched the largest crackdown ever on Los Angeles gangs. They called their effort the Los Angeles Metropolitan Task Force (LA Task Force). The LA Task Force increased law enforcement efforts to combat violent gang crime -- the FBI increased the number of agents who investigate gangs and gang-related crimes from about 74 to 100;121 the U.S. attorney's office brought in an experienced gang prosecutor; and the local Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) office announced plans to hire another 10 agents, largely to investigate gang members.
By using Federal racketeering laws and other tactics such as wiretapping, Federal and local officials attempted to break down gang factions, including State prison gangs, which contribute to the drug dealing and violence that plague the inner-city areas. Federal sentencing laws are more stringent than State laws, and because there is no Federal parole, convicted felons serve their full sentences. Gang members can also be spread across the Federal system rather than being housed in State prisons where many of their fellow inmates may have been members of their gang outside prison walls.
As part of a self-initiated review of the effort, the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) interviewed 37 members of local law enforcement agencies who had participated in the LA Task Force. The participants were asked which investigative methods worked best, if Federal contributions had been useful, and if multijurisdictional cooperation had been helpful in reducing gang violence.122
Participants reported that Federal assistance to Los Angeles law enforcement had been helpful in fighting the area's gang epidemic and was used for wiretapping and witness protection under Federal rules, overtime pay, equipment, office space, and money for informants and undercover purchases of drugs and firearms.
Most of the 24 line officers interviewed pointed to the task force's focus on long-term investigations of entire gangs, rather than reactive investigations of individual gang members, as a key to the LA Task Force's success. According to statistics provided to GAO, the LA Task Force was responsible for more than 2,000 arrests -- almost half for violent crimes -- between February 1992 and September 1995. Three-fourths of all Federal and State convictions coming from task force arrests were for violent crimes. GAO did not independently verify the statistics.
The LA Task Force was cited as an example of an effective program targeting violent crime in the U.S. Department of Justice's Attorney General's Progress Report to the President on the Anti-Violent Crime Initiative, released in September 1996. In particular, the Attorney General's report mentioned a 1-day effort in 1995 that resulted in a 57-percent drop in violent crime in one Los Angeles neighborhood.
The effort, called Operation Sunrise, was the result of more than 2 years of joint investigation of activities by the Eight Trey Gangster Crips. The gang made up less than 1 percent of the community's population but accounted for more than 80 percent of the area's violent crime, according to the GAO report. During the operation, Federal and local agents swept a 30-by-30-block area of South Central Los Angeles controlled by the gang, serving 120 search warrants in 1 day. The operation resulted in several Federal and State prosecutions, the confiscation of 67 firearms and 2,000 rounds of ammunition, and the seizure of 2 kilograms of methamphetamine.
Other initiatives that bring together Federal, State, and local resources and manpower are being tried across the country. Some of these efforts were highlighted in the Attorney General's progress report, including the following:
In Michigan, the Safe Streets-Violent Crime Task Force conducted an investigation of the Home Invaders, a gang that had gained entrance to more than 100 homes in the Detroit area while posing as police officers. Twenty-two members were indicted on charges under the Federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) and Violent Crimes in Aid of Racketeering statutes and for weapons possession.
In Rhode Island, a Federal and State task force conducted a 21-month investigation of the Latin Kings called Operation Check. The task force, which was sponsored by the ATF, included State and local police, State corrections officers, the Rhode Island National Guard, the FBI, HUD, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the U.S. Secret Service, and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). The probe led to an 18-count RICO indictment against 11 Latin Kings. Four defendants had pleaded guilty as of September 1996. The rest were awaiting trial.
In New York, a task force composed of the FBI, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, INS, the U.S. attorney's office in Buffalo, the New York State Police, the Erie County Sheriff's Department, the Erie County and Genesee County district attorney's offices, and the police departments of Rochester, Amherst, and Buffalo conducted an 18-month investigation of several drug trafficking organizations and street gangs. Using court-authorized wiretaps, undercover operations, and other investigative techniques, the joint task force probe resulted in the indictment of 71 defendants, including the leader of the Goodyear Crew, a street gang operating in Buffalo. Forty defendants have pleaded guilty, and the rest were awaiting trial, as of September 1996.123
Gang Prosecution
While specialized gang units are common in police departments of cities with gang problems, they are less common in prosecutors' offices. Those that have been established have begun to use a "vertical prosecution" process, whereby one attorney, or a group of attorneys, stays with a case from inception to conclusion. In California, several jurisdictions have combined vertical prosecution strategies with a type of proactive community policing-like prosecution.124
Whereas reactive prosecution means responding to crimes and closed investigations, a prosecutor's office using a proactive, community prosecution strategy attempts to stop the crime before it occurs or at least attempts to participate in the initial investigation. Instances of the former can include using city ordinances to force absentee landlords to clean up, fix up, or close down suspected crack houses. Examples of the latter include going with police to interview victims and witnesses, talking to gang members, and taking steps to protect witnesses. The San Diego County, CA, district attorney's office has a gang unit that has served as a national model for this approach.
94. National Institute of Justice, U.S. Dep't of Justice, Research in Brief, Prosecuting Gangs: A National Assessment 2 (Feb. 1995) [hereinafter Prosecuting Gangs].
95. Arnold Goldstein, Delinquent Gangs: A Psychological Perspective 36 (1991).
96. James C. Howell, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Dep't of Justice, Fact Sheet No. 12 at 1 (April 1994) [hereinafter Howell Fact Sheet].
97. Cal. Penal Code § 186.22 (West Supp. 1996).
98. Goldstein, supra note 95, at 2223.
99. Howell Fact Sheet, supra note 96.
100. National Institute of Justice, U.S. Dep't of Justice, Research in Brief, Estimating the National Scope of Gang Crime from Law Enforcement Data 3 (Aug. 1996).
101. Goldstein, supra note 95, at 2223.
102. Howell Fact Sheet, supra note 96.
103. Gang Migration, NCJA Justice Research (National Criminal Justice Association, Washington, D.C.), Nov.Dec. 1995, at 910.
104. National Institute of Justice, U.S. Dep't of Justice, Research in Brief, Gang Crime and Law Enforcement Recordkeeping 89 (Aug. 1994).
105. Howell Fact Sheet, supra note 96, at 2.
106. National Institute of Justice, U.S. Dep't of Justice, Research in Brief, Street Gangs and Drug Sales in Two Suburban Cities 7 (Sept. 1995).
107. Howell Fact Sheet, supra note 96, at 2.
108. Howell Guide, supra note 32, at 96.
109. U.S. General Accounting Office, Report to the Attorney General, Violent Crime: Federal Law Enforcement Assistance in Fighting Los Angeles Gang Violence 3 (Sept. 1996) [hereinafter GAO, Violent Crime].
110. Attorney General Ryan: State Must Adopt Coordinated Approach to Gang Problem, The Compiler (Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, Chicago, Ill.), Fall 1996, at 14.
111. Donna Lyons, National Conference of State Legislatures, State Legislature Report, 1995 Juvenile Crime and Justice State Enactments 9 (Nov. 1995) [hereinafter Lyons].
112. Cal. Penal Code § 186.22 (West Supp. 1996).
113. Lyons, supra note 111, at 9.
114. National Crime Prevention Council, New Ways of Working with Local Laws to Reduce Crime 41 (Nov. 1996).
115. Id. at 9.
116. Id. at 10.
117. Id. at 42.
118. Id.
119. Id. at 44.
120. Terence Monmaney, Medical Researchers Call Gang Killings 'Epidemic' in County, L.A. Times, Oct. 4, 1995, at B1.
121. Jim Newton, U.S. Mounts Sweeping Crackdown on L.A. Gangs, L.A. Times, July 4, 1992, at A1.
122. GAO, Violent Crime, supra note 109, at 17.
123. U.S. Dep't of Justice, Antiviolent Crime Initiative: The Attorney General's Progress Report to the President 510 (Sept. 1996).
124. Prosecuting Gangs, supra note 94, at 5.
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Contents
Next
An important piece of the juvenile justice reform movement in this Nation has been devoted to finding new ways to reduce gang-related crime and violence. A number of States have enacted laws that enhance the penalties for gang-related offenses, and many local jurisdictions have adopted ordinances that are designed to curb or outlaw gang-related activities. Federal authorities and local law enforcement agencies also have combined resources to create multijurisdictional task forces and other bodies to investigate and prosecute gang members. Meanwhile, a host of prevention and intervention measures have been implemented in the schools to dissuade children and adolescents from joining gangs and engaging in crime and violence.
The term "gang" has no fixed legal meaning.94 Definitions of gangs have varied over time, according to the perceptions and interests of the definer, academic fashions, and the changing social reality of the gang. Once even defined as "play groups," the term gang has increasingly taken on pejorative connotations. In the most recent view, gangs are considered more pathological than functional organizations, so that the term has become almost synonymous with violent and criminal groups.95 Therefore, inherent in most recent definitions of a gang is the idea of criminality. Under one definition, a group is considered a gang if it has a formal organizational structure, identifiable leadership, identifiable territory, and recurrent interaction, and is engaged in serious or violent criminal behavior. 96
This view of gangs -- as pathological and criminal -- underlies many of the initiatives that States and local jurisdictions have adopted in the past decade. Because many acts of juvenile delinquency are committed by groups, the notion of juvenile delinquency has become closely associated with gang activity. Still, without an accepted definition to fall back on, State and local jurisdictions have tended to develop their own ideas of what constitutes "gang activity."
California, for example, defines "criminal street gang" as an ongoing organization, association, or group of three or more persons whose primary activities include the commission of one or more serious or violent criminal acts; that has a common name or identifying sign or symbol; and "whose members individually or collectively . . . have engaged in a pattern of criminal gang activity."97
The Spread of Gangs
By the early 1980's, gangs had sprung up in most of the large cities in the Nation, especially in the poorer inner-city and ring-city areas. In 1989, delinquent gangs were located in almost all 50 States. Together, 35 cities reported 1,439 gangs, with California, Florida, and Illinois leading the Nation in gang concentrations. Of the total 120,636 gang members reported in all surveyed cities, 70,000 were estimated to reside in Los Angeles County and 12,000 in Chicago.98 As of 1991, an estimated 4,881 gangs with 249,324 members existed across the Nation.99
Using the results of a 1993 national survey of law enforcement agencies, researchers estimated that the number of gangs jumped 77 percent between 1991 and 1993 to 8,625 gangs. They put the number of gang members at 378,807 and estimated that there were 437,066 gang-related crimes. Researchers, however, noted that the gang-crime problem is underestimated because many cities do not have the capacity to compile statistics and report on gang-related criminal activity. If estimates for the missing jurisdictions are included in their calculations, researchers put the number of gangs at 16,643, the number of gang members at more than 555,181, and the number of gang-related crimes at 580,331.100
Less urban areas are no longer safe from the infiltration of gangs and gang violence. Although some of the gangs are branches of megagangs, such as Los Angeles' Crips and Bloods, most gangs in midsized or smaller cities either originate locally or "are started by nonresident gang members via kinship, alliance, expansion of turf boundaries, or movement of gang members' families into new areas."101 The FBI and local police have reported the presence of Crips and Bloods in as many as 45 western and midwestern cities.102 Again, family migration, not relocation, appears to be the main reason for the emergence of gangs in smaller cities.103
The average gang is composed of males, ages 12 to 21, who reside in poor, central areas of cities with populations of more than 200,000. Although research on gang ethnicity is sketchy at best, one survey of gangs in large cities indicated that approximately 48 percent of all gang members are African-American, 43 percent Hispanic, 5 percent Asian, and 5 percent white.104
Gangs, Drugs, and Violence
Little empirical research exists on gang involvement in drug trafficking. One 1991 study in Los Angeles found that while as many as one-quarter of gang members were somehow involved in crack cocaine distribution, drug trafficking was not a primary gang activity.105 News media accounts and conventional wisdom have linked inner-city violence to gang drug wars, but research has shown that most inner-city homicides are the result of turf battles, not drug violence.
In a 1995 study of Pomona and Pasadena, CA, two smaller cities outside Los Angeles, gang members were found to be involved in about 27 percent of arrests for cocaine sales and about 12 percent of the arrests for sales of other drugs. Crack cocaine was often present in gang cases, and gang-related drug cases were more likely to involve young African-American males than members of other age or racial groups. However, most aspects of cocaine sales, including location, firearm presence, and amount of cash, did not vary because of gang involvement. Firearms were involved in only 10 percent of the cases, and violence was present in only 5 percent of the incidents.106
A 1993 study of the four largest and most criminally active street gangs found only 8 of the 285 gang-motivated homicides between 1987 and 1990 to be related to drugs. Approximately 90 percent of the violent crimes involving youth gangs in the Boston area between 1984 and 1994 did not involve drug dealing or drug use.107
Approaches to Gang Control and Intervention
Gang problems traditionally have been local, urban problems, and governmental responses to gang problems traditionally have been focused at the local level. Yet, while the past decade has been marked by the spread of gangs and gang-related violence, it has also seen the growing confluence of Federal, State, and local efforts to control gang activity and reduce gang violence. Moreover, it has seen the rise of more proactive, community-based strategies for dealing with gangs.
Three general strategies for preventing gangs have been evaluated: preventing youth from joining gangs, transforming existing gangs into neighborhood clubs, and mediating and intervening in conflicts between gangs. Of the three approaches, prevention programs that integrate school curriculums with afterschool recreational activities seem to hold the most promise for preventing gang crime and violence.108
In areas where gang problems are endemic, such as Los Angeles County, prevention and intervention strategies combined with long-term, proactive investigations of entire gangs work better than reactive, short-term investigations and prosecutions of individual gang members.109
State Initiatives
States have done their part in the fight against gangs by enhancing penalties for gang-related crime and fostering cooperation between jurisdictions and disciplines. Illinois, for example, has adopted a coordinated, holistic approach to addressing gang problems. In 1995, Governor Jim Edgar established by executive order the 35-member Governor's Commission on Gangs, with Attorney General Jim Ryan serving as chairman. The commission was composed of Federal and State prosecutors, police, educators, parents, clergy, health professionals, lawmakers, and representatives of business and labor.110
The commission has held 16 public hearings, a youth forum, and a 2-day conference at locales across the State, gathering testimony from nearly 150 witnesses. As a result of commission findings and recommendations, the Governor, in June 1996, signed legislation drafted by the commission establishing a witness protection program. He also appropriated $1 million for a pilot program, which will run through June 1998, to protect victims and witnesses who testify against gang members. The new law includes strict sanctions for gang members who commit crimes, including an imposition of harsher penalties for gang leaders convicted of drug dealing and mandatory reporting of any firearm-related incidents at public schools to law enforcement with-in 24 hours. The commission is expected to issue a report that will stress the need for get-tough measures balanced by more intervention and prevention programs.
Another recent antigang measure from Illinois creates offenses for compelling another to join a gang or deterring resignation from a gang. Moreover, the State has enacted a law that prohibits a person who has coerced another to join a gang from receiving probation, a conditional discharge, or periodic imprisonment.111
Enhanced sentencing is yet another State response to combating crime committed by gangs and gang members. Arkansas and California, among other States, have increased the penalties for specific gang-related violence, such as drive-by shootings. In September 1996, California Governor Pete Wilson signed a law extending indefinitely the California Street Terrorism Enforcement and Prevention Act, which was due to expire in January 1997 and which enhances penalties for gang-related activities.112
Other States have enacted statutes that enhance penalties for any criminal act committed by a gang member. For example, Tennessee enacted a law that adds criminal street gang membership as an enhancement factor for sentencing defendants who have committed a prior offense within the past 3 years. Provisions of a Nevada law include forfeiture of personal property that has been used in a gang crime and authorize schools to enforce antigang rules and develop gang-prevention problems.113
Local Initiatives
Local jurisdictions have a number of law enforcement approaches to controlling gang activity and reducing gang-related crime.114 Cities have passed ordinances prohibiting cruising, loitering, and many forms of belligerent public behavior, such as discharging weapons on private property, consuming alcohol in public, and playing loud music. Other cities have cracked down on graffiti and other forms of vandalism by regulating the sale, purchase, or possession of materials used to deface property115 and by adopting parental responsibility laws that make parents liable for the damage illegally caused by their children.116 Still other cities closely enforce truancy and curfew ordinances.
Some cities have attempted to discourage gang membership by prohibiting behavior that manifests gang membership, such as wearing gang colors or using gestures that communicate gang affiliation. For example, the city of Harvard, IL, prohibits individuals from wearing gang-related colors, emblems, or insignia in public or from making any utterances or gestures that communicate gang membership or insult to other street gangs. Since the ordinance became effective, the number of gang-related arrests has decreased from 87 in 1994 to 0 as of July 11, 1996.117
To control gang-related violence in and near public housing projects, housing authorities are authorized by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to insert provisions into leases prohibiting the use, display, or possession of firearms. Gang members or family members and associates of gang members face eviction if caught using or possessing guns.118 Cities also have passed temporary ordinances banning access by gang members to public parks that have been the sites of confrontations between gangs.
Other cities have sought civil injunctions against gangs as "unincorporated associations" that prohibit targeted gang members from congregating in certain areas. Prosecutors in Los Angeles and nearby cities have implemented four gang injunctions, serving gang members with court documents and discussing with them activities prohibited by the court. Before a civil injunction against the Blythe Street Gang in April 1993, drive-by shootings were a weekly occurrence and a neighborhood grocery store was forced to close down. Since the injunction, the store is back, and at least a year has passed between drive-by shootings. A local community organization has received a major grant to make improvements to the neighborhood.119
Multijurisdictional Initiatives
Many counties and cities have found success in pooling resources with Federal and State agencies to fight and control gangs and gang-related violence. With the size and diversity of its gang problem, California, particularly Los Angeles County, has become a national leader in developing and implementing gang initiatives that draw on both Federal and local resources.
An estimated 150,000 members belong to more than 1,000 gang factions in the Los Angeles area, according to media reports. The Los Angeles Times reported that gang-related murders have accounted for roughly 40 percent of homicides in Los Angeles County in recent years. Although there has been an on-again, off-again truce between the two major gang divisions, the Crips and the Bloods, since the rioting surrounding the Rodney King verdict in the summer of 1992, gang-related violent crime continues to plague the region.120
As a response, Federal officials, in cooperation with local law enforcement authorities, launched the largest crackdown ever on Los Angeles gangs. They called their effort the Los Angeles Metropolitan Task Force (LA Task Force). The LA Task Force increased law enforcement efforts to combat violent gang crime -- the FBI increased the number of agents who investigate gangs and gang-related crimes from about 74 to 100;121 the U.S. attorney's office brought in an experienced gang prosecutor; and the local Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) office announced plans to hire another 10 agents, largely to investigate gang members.
By using Federal racketeering laws and other tactics such as wiretapping, Federal and local officials attempted to break down gang factions, including State prison gangs, which contribute to the drug dealing and violence that plague the inner-city areas. Federal sentencing laws are more stringent than State laws, and because there is no Federal parole, convicted felons serve their full sentences. Gang members can also be spread across the Federal system rather than being housed in State prisons where many of their fellow inmates may have been members of their gang outside prison walls.
As part of a self-initiated review of the effort, the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO) interviewed 37 members of local law enforcement agencies who had participated in the LA Task Force. The participants were asked which investigative methods worked best, if Federal contributions had been useful, and if multijurisdictional cooperation had been helpful in reducing gang violence.122
Participants reported that Federal assistance to Los Angeles law enforcement had been helpful in fighting the area's gang epidemic and was used for wiretapping and witness protection under Federal rules, overtime pay, equipment, office space, and money for informants and undercover purchases of drugs and firearms.
Most of the 24 line officers interviewed pointed to the task force's focus on long-term investigations of entire gangs, rather than reactive investigations of individual gang members, as a key to the LA Task Force's success. According to statistics provided to GAO, the LA Task Force was responsible for more than 2,000 arrests -- almost half for violent crimes -- between February 1992 and September 1995. Three-fourths of all Federal and State convictions coming from task force arrests were for violent crimes. GAO did not independently verify the statistics.
The LA Task Force was cited as an example of an effective program targeting violent crime in the U.S. Department of Justice's Attorney General's Progress Report to the President on the Anti-Violent Crime Initiative, released in September 1996. In particular, the Attorney General's report mentioned a 1-day effort in 1995 that resulted in a 57-percent drop in violent crime in one Los Angeles neighborhood.
The effort, called Operation Sunrise, was the result of more than 2 years of joint investigation of activities by the Eight Trey Gangster Crips. The gang made up less than 1 percent of the community's population but accounted for more than 80 percent of the area's violent crime, according to the GAO report. During the operation, Federal and local agents swept a 30-by-30-block area of South Central Los Angeles controlled by the gang, serving 120 search warrants in 1 day. The operation resulted in several Federal and State prosecutions, the confiscation of 67 firearms and 2,000 rounds of ammunition, and the seizure of 2 kilograms of methamphetamine.
Other initiatives that bring together Federal, State, and local resources and manpower are being tried across the country. Some of these efforts were highlighted in the Attorney General's progress report, including the following:
In Michigan, the Safe Streets-Violent Crime Task Force conducted an investigation of the Home Invaders, a gang that had gained entrance to more than 100 homes in the Detroit area while posing as police officers. Twenty-two members were indicted on charges under the Federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) and Violent Crimes in Aid of Racketeering statutes and for weapons possession.
In Rhode Island, a Federal and State task force conducted a 21-month investigation of the Latin Kings called Operation Check. The task force, which was sponsored by the ATF, included State and local police, State corrections officers, the Rhode Island National Guard, the FBI, HUD, the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the U.S. Secret Service, and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). The probe led to an 18-count RICO indictment against 11 Latin Kings. Four defendants had pleaded guilty as of September 1996. The rest were awaiting trial.
In New York, a task force composed of the FBI, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, INS, the U.S. attorney's office in Buffalo, the New York State Police, the Erie County Sheriff's Department, the Erie County and Genesee County district attorney's offices, and the police departments of Rochester, Amherst, and Buffalo conducted an 18-month investigation of several drug trafficking organizations and street gangs. Using court-authorized wiretaps, undercover operations, and other investigative techniques, the joint task force probe resulted in the indictment of 71 defendants, including the leader of the Goodyear Crew, a street gang operating in Buffalo. Forty defendants have pleaded guilty, and the rest were awaiting trial, as of September 1996.123
Gang Prosecution
While specialized gang units are common in police departments of cities with gang problems, they are less common in prosecutors' offices. Those that have been established have begun to use a "vertical prosecution" process, whereby one attorney, or a group of attorneys, stays with a case from inception to conclusion. In California, several jurisdictions have combined vertical prosecution strategies with a type of proactive community policing-like prosecution.124
Whereas reactive prosecution means responding to crimes and closed investigations, a prosecutor's office using a proactive, community prosecution strategy attempts to stop the crime before it occurs or at least attempts to participate in the initial investigation. Instances of the former can include using city ordinances to force absentee landlords to clean up, fix up, or close down suspected crack houses. Examples of the latter include going with police to interview victims and witnesses, talking to gang members, and taking steps to protect witnesses. The San Diego County, CA, district attorney's office has a gang unit that has served as a national model for this approach.
94. National Institute of Justice, U.S. Dep't of Justice, Research in Brief, Prosecuting Gangs: A National Assessment 2 (Feb. 1995) [hereinafter Prosecuting Gangs].
95. Arnold Goldstein, Delinquent Gangs: A Psychological Perspective 36 (1991).
96. James C. Howell, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Dep't of Justice, Fact Sheet No. 12 at 1 (April 1994) [hereinafter Howell Fact Sheet].
97. Cal. Penal Code § 186.22 (West Supp. 1996).
98. Goldstein, supra note 95, at 2223.
99. Howell Fact Sheet, supra note 96.
100. National Institute of Justice, U.S. Dep't of Justice, Research in Brief, Estimating the National Scope of Gang Crime from Law Enforcement Data 3 (Aug. 1996).
101. Goldstein, supra note 95, at 2223.
102. Howell Fact Sheet, supra note 96.
103. Gang Migration, NCJA Justice Research (National Criminal Justice Association, Washington, D.C.), Nov.Dec. 1995, at 910.
104. National Institute of Justice, U.S. Dep't of Justice, Research in Brief, Gang Crime and Law Enforcement Recordkeeping 89 (Aug. 1994).
105. Howell Fact Sheet, supra note 96, at 2.
106. National Institute of Justice, U.S. Dep't of Justice, Research in Brief, Street Gangs and Drug Sales in Two Suburban Cities 7 (Sept. 1995).
107. Howell Fact Sheet, supra note 96, at 2.
108. Howell Guide, supra note 32, at 96.
109. U.S. General Accounting Office, Report to the Attorney General, Violent Crime: Federal Law Enforcement Assistance in Fighting Los Angeles Gang Violence 3 (Sept. 1996) [hereinafter GAO, Violent Crime].
110. Attorney General Ryan: State Must Adopt Coordinated Approach to Gang Problem, The Compiler (Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, Chicago, Ill.), Fall 1996, at 14.
111. Donna Lyons, National Conference of State Legislatures, State Legislature Report, 1995 Juvenile Crime and Justice State Enactments 9 (Nov. 1995) [hereinafter Lyons].
112. Cal. Penal Code § 186.22 (West Supp. 1996).
113. Lyons, supra note 111, at 9.
114. National Crime Prevention Council, New Ways of Working with Local Laws to Reduce Crime 41 (Nov. 1996).
115. Id. at 9.
116. Id. at 10.
117. Id. at 42.
118. Id.
119. Id. at 44.
120. Terence Monmaney, Medical Researchers Call Gang Killings 'Epidemic' in County, L.A. Times, Oct. 4, 1995, at B1.
121. Jim Newton, U.S. Mounts Sweeping Crackdown on L.A. Gangs, L.A. Times, July 4, 1992, at A1.
122. GAO, Violent Crime, supra note 109, at 17.
123. U.S. Dep't of Justice, Antiviolent Crime Initiative: The Attorney General's Progress Report to the President 510 (Sept. 1996).
124. Prosecuting Gangs, supra note 94, at 5.
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Monday, January 29, 2007
Gang: Define it, Denounce It
What Is a Gang?
A gang is an organized group with a recognized leader whose activities are either criminal or, at the very least, threatening to the community.
Unity, identity, loyalty and reward are normal characteristics that are admired, but when associated with gangs they become distorted. They are traits each gang shares in order to survive.
Gangs display their identity and unity in obvious ways, such as the use of jewelry, selected colored clothing, jargon and signals. Members remain together in quiet times as well as in conflict. In response to this twisted loyalty, gang members are rewarded by being accepted and recognized as a gang member.
The main source of income for most gangs is narcotics. Members of all ages are used by the gang in the illegal sale of narcotics and other unlawful activities. It is a mistaken belief that gangs operate only in less affluent neighborhoods. Gangs exist in virtually every community.
Who Are Gang Members?
Simply put, the hard-core gang member is a LOSER. Lacking recognition in the family, school, athletics or employment, the member seeks the acceptance, support and protection of other losers and cowards. Students, working youths and other young adults trying to become successful in life want NOTHING TO DO WITH GANGS.
Gangs are usually a product of the area in which they are active. The individuals who belong to gangs are members of the community which they intimidate. Gangs rarely invade a community; rather, they develop within the community.
Street gangs typically have three components:
• Leaders
• Hard-core members
• Marginal members (often referred to as "wanna-bes")
The leadership is directly related to the character and number of members in the gang. The hard-core members, whose entire ego is involved in the gang's identification, are generally the most violent criminal members of the gang. These two groups influence and encourage others to become involved in criminal activities.
The marginal or fringe members drift in and out of the gang according to their needs. These members lack direction and, unlike the hard-core members and leaders, can be positively influenced to a constructive role in society. The marginal members join gangs for a variety of reasons. For some, the gang offers a level of status they do not believe they can otherwise achieve. Others join for protection. They submit to a gang so they may travel in their neighborhoods without fear. Intimidation often plays a part in gang recruitment, with techniques ranging from extorting lunch money to physical violence. To protect themselves, youths often give in to the demands of the gang.
Often these "wanna-bes" or potential gang members are young people finding themselves in confusing, uncomfortable situations. Here are some examples:
• A well-meaning youth is approached, intimidated and coerced into joining a street gang. The youth is uncomfortable with the situation and does not want to get involved, but is confused as to where to turn.
• A young woman -- a dedicated student during the school year -- finds herself with nothing to do during the summer. She spends more and more time hanging around with gang members for the excitement and acceptance.
• Yet another youth, the oldest of several children, desperately looks for employment to assist his mother in supporting the family. The leader of the street gang tells the frustrated youth that there is money to be made as a gang member.
A Gang Is Only as Strong as a Community Allows it To Be
The more aware your community is, the better prepared it is to deal with gang problems. The St. Clair County Sheriff's Department frequently holds workshops in your neighborhood to discuss gangs and gang prevention strategies. These workshops, slide presentations and discussions will assist you in learning how to recognize gang behavior in your children, how to cope and how to fight back.
One simple step you can take to fight gangs is to remove graffiti from your property as soon as possible -- and as often as necessary. Graffiti is often the first indication that gang activity is in your community. Once a community allows graffiti to remain, it is seen as giving in to the gang. Your wall becomes their wall.
Graffiti is NOT a juvenile prank; it is a powerful message from the gangs that they control your neighborhood. For a community to rid itself of gangs, the community must remove the graffiti and report gang activities.
The best defense against gangs begins in the home!
Parents should be aware of the identifiers gangs use and be observant that they do not appear on the personal articles of their children. Book bags, posters and gang colors are used to convey the gang message. Parents should be alert that their homes are not being used by the gang to hide contraband. By directing their sons or daughters into constructive activities and by knowing their friends, parents are not only protecting their offspring but are also helping their neighborhoods combat gangs.
Following is a list of items to assist you in recognizing street gang members that you may encounter in your neighborhood. Please remember that if a person is wearing one of the following identifiers it does not always mean that he or she is a gang member. Parents should be on the lookout for multiple identifiers, or patterns in the use of these identifiers.
Earrings
• Right ear, gangs affiliated with the Disciples (Folks)
• Left ear, gangs affiliated with the Vice Lords or Latin Kings (People)
Hats
• Tilted to the right, affiliated with the Disciples (Folks)
• Tilted to the left, affiliated with the Vice Lords or Latin Kings (People)
Gloves
• One on right hand, affiliated with the Disciples (Folks)
• One on left hand, affiliated with Vice Lords or Latin Kings (People)
Right / Left Rule
• The same right-and-left rule applies to other items, including belt buckles, parts in hair, hair coloring or streaking, combs or picks in hair, eyebrows cut on one side, pant leg rolled up, bandannas hanging from one pocket, etc.
• Right represents the Disciples (Folks)
• Left represents the Vice Lords or Latin Kings (People)
Stars
• Six-point -- Folks
• Five-point -- People
Crowns
• Pointed -- Latin Kings
Rabbit Heads
• Straight ears -- Latin Kings
• One ear bent -- Disciples
Gym Shoes
• The color of the shoe vs. the color of the laces
• Two different colors of laces
• "Converse" shoes with the five-pointed star shaded in
• Tongues -- one side up, the other down
• Laces -- halfway laced on one side
Crosses
• Knitted with gang colors
Jewelry
• Five- or six-pointed stars
• Rabbit heads
• Italian horns
• Crescents
Tattoos
• A variety of professional or homemade tattoos on (or between) fingers, wrists, etc. Tattoos can be as simple as dots or as complete as a king image.
Finger Nails
• Painted with gang colors and/or symbols
Starter Jackets
• The latest fad in outerwear is also the most prominent gang wear. Usually the colors of the starter jacket represent the gang's colors.
Don't Let Street Gangs Take Over
Do not be intimidated. You are not alone!
A gang is an organized group with a recognized leader whose activities are either criminal or, at the very least, threatening to the community.
Unity, identity, loyalty and reward are normal characteristics that are admired, but when associated with gangs they become distorted. They are traits each gang shares in order to survive.
Gangs display their identity and unity in obvious ways, such as the use of jewelry, selected colored clothing, jargon and signals. Members remain together in quiet times as well as in conflict. In response to this twisted loyalty, gang members are rewarded by being accepted and recognized as a gang member.
The main source of income for most gangs is narcotics. Members of all ages are used by the gang in the illegal sale of narcotics and other unlawful activities. It is a mistaken belief that gangs operate only in less affluent neighborhoods. Gangs exist in virtually every community.
Who Are Gang Members?
Simply put, the hard-core gang member is a LOSER. Lacking recognition in the family, school, athletics or employment, the member seeks the acceptance, support and protection of other losers and cowards. Students, working youths and other young adults trying to become successful in life want NOTHING TO DO WITH GANGS.
Gangs are usually a product of the area in which they are active. The individuals who belong to gangs are members of the community which they intimidate. Gangs rarely invade a community; rather, they develop within the community.
Street gangs typically have three components:
• Leaders
• Hard-core members
• Marginal members (often referred to as "wanna-bes")
The leadership is directly related to the character and number of members in the gang. The hard-core members, whose entire ego is involved in the gang's identification, are generally the most violent criminal members of the gang. These two groups influence and encourage others to become involved in criminal activities.
The marginal or fringe members drift in and out of the gang according to their needs. These members lack direction and, unlike the hard-core members and leaders, can be positively influenced to a constructive role in society. The marginal members join gangs for a variety of reasons. For some, the gang offers a level of status they do not believe they can otherwise achieve. Others join for protection. They submit to a gang so they may travel in their neighborhoods without fear. Intimidation often plays a part in gang recruitment, with techniques ranging from extorting lunch money to physical violence. To protect themselves, youths often give in to the demands of the gang.
Often these "wanna-bes" or potential gang members are young people finding themselves in confusing, uncomfortable situations. Here are some examples:
• A well-meaning youth is approached, intimidated and coerced into joining a street gang. The youth is uncomfortable with the situation and does not want to get involved, but is confused as to where to turn.
• A young woman -- a dedicated student during the school year -- finds herself with nothing to do during the summer. She spends more and more time hanging around with gang members for the excitement and acceptance.
• Yet another youth, the oldest of several children, desperately looks for employment to assist his mother in supporting the family. The leader of the street gang tells the frustrated youth that there is money to be made as a gang member.
A Gang Is Only as Strong as a Community Allows it To Be
The more aware your community is, the better prepared it is to deal with gang problems. The St. Clair County Sheriff's Department frequently holds workshops in your neighborhood to discuss gangs and gang prevention strategies. These workshops, slide presentations and discussions will assist you in learning how to recognize gang behavior in your children, how to cope and how to fight back.
One simple step you can take to fight gangs is to remove graffiti from your property as soon as possible -- and as often as necessary. Graffiti is often the first indication that gang activity is in your community. Once a community allows graffiti to remain, it is seen as giving in to the gang. Your wall becomes their wall.
Graffiti is NOT a juvenile prank; it is a powerful message from the gangs that they control your neighborhood. For a community to rid itself of gangs, the community must remove the graffiti and report gang activities.
The best defense against gangs begins in the home!
Parents should be aware of the identifiers gangs use and be observant that they do not appear on the personal articles of their children. Book bags, posters and gang colors are used to convey the gang message. Parents should be alert that their homes are not being used by the gang to hide contraband. By directing their sons or daughters into constructive activities and by knowing their friends, parents are not only protecting their offspring but are also helping their neighborhoods combat gangs.
Following is a list of items to assist you in recognizing street gang members that you may encounter in your neighborhood. Please remember that if a person is wearing one of the following identifiers it does not always mean that he or she is a gang member. Parents should be on the lookout for multiple identifiers, or patterns in the use of these identifiers.
Earrings
• Right ear, gangs affiliated with the Disciples (Folks)
• Left ear, gangs affiliated with the Vice Lords or Latin Kings (People)
Hats
• Tilted to the right, affiliated with the Disciples (Folks)
• Tilted to the left, affiliated with the Vice Lords or Latin Kings (People)
Gloves
• One on right hand, affiliated with the Disciples (Folks)
• One on left hand, affiliated with Vice Lords or Latin Kings (People)
Right / Left Rule
• The same right-and-left rule applies to other items, including belt buckles, parts in hair, hair coloring or streaking, combs or picks in hair, eyebrows cut on one side, pant leg rolled up, bandannas hanging from one pocket, etc.
• Right represents the Disciples (Folks)
• Left represents the Vice Lords or Latin Kings (People)
Stars
• Six-point -- Folks
• Five-point -- People
Crowns
• Pointed -- Latin Kings
Rabbit Heads
• Straight ears -- Latin Kings
• One ear bent -- Disciples
Gym Shoes
• The color of the shoe vs. the color of the laces
• Two different colors of laces
• "Converse" shoes with the five-pointed star shaded in
• Tongues -- one side up, the other down
• Laces -- halfway laced on one side
Crosses
• Knitted with gang colors
Jewelry
• Five- or six-pointed stars
• Rabbit heads
• Italian horns
• Crescents
Tattoos
• A variety of professional or homemade tattoos on (or between) fingers, wrists, etc. Tattoos can be as simple as dots or as complete as a king image.
Finger Nails
• Painted with gang colors and/or symbols
Starter Jackets
• The latest fad in outerwear is also the most prominent gang wear. Usually the colors of the starter jacket represent the gang's colors.
Don't Let Street Gangs Take Over
Do not be intimidated. You are not alone!
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