GANGS
The rise in gang violence since the 1980s caused lawmakers to seek a variety of methods to curb the formation and activities of these gangs.
According to statistics from the National Youth
Gang Center, more than 24,500 gangs, consist-
ing of more than 770,000 members, exist in
about 3,330 cities in the United States. Congress
spends as much as $20 billion per year in
HEALTH CARE costs treating victims of gunshot
wounds, and many of the incidents involving
guns also involve street and other types of gangs.
A gang is sometimes difficult to define, espe-
cially in legal terms. Although gangs typically
involve a congregation of individuals, primarily
young males, certainly not all congregations or
informal gatherings of young individuals consti-
tute gangs. Definitions of gangs or street gangs
vary among the laws governing them. Alabama
law, for example, defines a “streetgang” as,
“[A]ny combination, confederation, alliance,
network, conspiracy, understanding, or similar
arrangement in law or in fact, of three or more
persons that, through its membership or
through the agency of any member, engages in a
course or pattern of criminal activity.”Ala. Code
§ 13A-6-26 (2002).
Congress, state legislatures, and municipal
governments have responded to the growing
tide of gangs by considering a variety of bills
addressing gang violence.Although efforts at the
federal level have largely been unsuccessful,
many states and municipalities have enacted
laws designed to deter gang-related violence.
Several of these statutes and ordinances have
been fashioned as anti-loitering statutes, which
often raise FIRST AMENDMENT concerns. The
U.S. Supreme Court in 1999 made it more diffi-
cult for municipalities to draft gang loitering
ordinances when it found that an ordinance
such as this in the city of Chicago was unconsti-
tutional. City of Chicago v. Morales, 527 U.S. 41,
119 S. Ct. 1849, 144 L. Ed. 2d 67 (1999).
Background
Activities of gangs predate the formation of
the United States, though the common percep-
tion of these gangs has changed over time. The
level of violence among street gangs is a rela-
tively new phenomenon. Because different
organizations and individuals define the term
gang differently, accurate statistics are often dif-
ficult to compile.Many of the crimes committed
by gangs are violent crimes, including HOMI-
CIDE. Moreover, many of the gang members are
juveniles or young adults.
According to the 1999 National Youth Gang
Survey, 90 percent of gang members are male.
Seventy-one percent of these members are
between the ages of 15 and 24, and 16 percent are
age 14 or under. About 79 percent of the gang
members, according to this survey, are Hispanic
or black,while only 14 percent are white. Because
of the large discrepancy in the number of
minorities, some commentators have suggested
that young minority males are unfairly stereo-
typed, leading to RACIAL PROFILING of groups
consisting of these young minority males.
Until the late 1980s, public and law enforce-
ment agencies perceived gangs as racially and
ethnically segregated, loosely organized fighting
groups. However, a 1988 study of two major Los
Angeles gangs, the Crips and the Bloods, showed
that these gangs had become highly organized
and entrepreneurial. These gangs had begun to
engage in drug trafficking and had expanded
their operations to multiple cities and states. As
the gangs’ interest in drug trade increased, so too
did the level of violence perpetrated by their
members. Between 1984 and 1993, the number
of homicides committed by juveniles increased
by 169 percent, representing a sharp increase in
the number of gang-related crimes. Gang mem-
bership also increased markedly during this
time. Between 1989 and 1995, the number of
students reporting a gang presence at their
school increased from 15 to 28 percent.
In response to the concerns caused by gang
violence, several states and cities enacted statutes
and ordinances designed to address street crime.
In 1988, California enacted the Street Terrorism
Enforcement and Prevention Act (STEP Act),
Cal. Pen. Code §§ 186.20–.33 (2001). Since that
time, at least 28 other states have enacted similar
legislation. Cities with traditional gang strong-
holds, such as Chicago and Los Angeles, enacted
a series of ordinances that enabled law enforce-
ment to take a more proactive approach in fight-
ing street gangs in those cities.
Boston,which experienced the most number
of homicides in its history in 1990 due in large
part to gang violence, initiated a community-
based strategy designed to target at-risk youth
before they considered joining a gang. It also
developed strategies for youth intervention and
enforcement of GUN CONTROL laws. Due to this
initiative, youth homicides dropped 80 percent
from 1990 to 1995. Similarly, Salinas, California,
experienced a 200 percent increase in the total
number of homicides from 1984 to 1994. After
receiving federal funding, the city improved it
anti-gang task force and developed a series of
additional programs. As a result of these pro-
grams, gang related assaults decreased by 23 per-
cent, and the homicide rate fell by 62 percent.
Federal Law
In his 1997 state of the union address, Presi-
dent BILL CLINTON requested that Congress
“mount a full-scale assault on juvenile crime,
with legislation that declares war on gangs,”
including more prosecutions and tougher
penalties. The same year, Congress considered
two bills under the title Anti-Gang Youth Vio-
lence Act of 1997 (S. 362, H.R. 810, 105th
Cong.). Despite initial support for this legisla-
tion, which would have provided $200 million
in funding for local programs, neither bill
passed through its respective committee.
Although Congress has been unable to
enact comprehensive anti-gang legislation,
other federal law and actions of federal author-
ities have been used in the effort to curb gang
violence. Federal prosecutors have relied upon
the RACKETEER INFLUENCED AND CORRUPT
ORGANIZATIONS (RICO) statute to prosecute
gang members. In the 1990s, the number of
RICO prosecutions against gang members more
than doubled. Federal authorities have also
assisted local law enforcement through a variety
of funding programs. For example, in February
2003, the Los Angeles City/County Community
Law Enforcement and Recovery (CLEAR) anti-
gang program received $2.5 million in federal
funding for its efforts in reducing gang-related
violence.
State Law
State legislatures have approached the prob-
lems related to gang violence through the enact-
ment of a number of different statutes. Due to
rulings by the courts within the various states,
some legislatures are more restricted than oth-
ers in enacting these types of legislation because
of potential violations of state constitutional
provisions.
Gang Participation
A number of states proscribe participation in criminal street gangs, though these statutes vary from state to state. In Georgia, for instance, it is unlawful “for any person employed by or associated with a criminal street gang to conduct or participate [in such a gang] through a pattern of criminal gang activity.” Ga. Code Ann. § 16-15-4 (1998). Likewise, in Texas, a person commits an offense “if, with
an intent to establish,maintain, or participate in
a combination of or in the profits of a combina-
tion of or as a member of a street gang, he com-
mits or conspires to commit” one of several
crimes, including violent crimes or distribution
of controlled substances. Tex. Pen. Code Ann.
§ 71.02 (Vernon 1997).
Gang Recruitment
Several states make it a
