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.

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).