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Long Beach Press Telegram Plan would target gangs Feinstein reintroduces federal antigang laws. By Beth Barrett Staff writer Thursday, December 30, 2004 - To dismantle increasingly violent street gangs operating nationwide, U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein said this week she'll reintroduce a sweeping package of federal laws modeled after those used to combat organized crime. The proposal seeks to establish a separate class of federal crimes targeting participation in criminal street gangs, similar to the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act used to fight organized crime. With about 3,100 gang-related homicides since 1999, Southern California likely would get a significant share of the $650 million proposed over five years, as well as federal law enforcement reinforcements, under a formula targeting high-crime areas. "I've watched virtually all my political life gangs go from next to nothing in this country to where they are the major criminal enterprises, more vicious than Mafia crime ever was," Feinstein said in a phone interview. The gang crisis in Long Beach dates back more than 25 years and members are blamed for hundreds of homicides during that time. In 2003 alone, gangs were suspected in at least half of the city's 50 slayings. A similar version of the Gang Prevention and Effective Deterrence Act, co-sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, was passed out of the Judiciary Committee last year, but never was voted on by the full Senate. Led by Democratic Sens. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts and Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, opponents complained about provisions making it easier to prosecute juveniles as adults, and allowing the death penalty for more gang crimes. Feinstein said a major element of the package would make recruitment of a juvenile into a street gang a federal felony. It also would help create inter-agency, antigang task forces, like those now used to fight drug trafficking. There are about 100,000 gangsters in Los Angeles, Ventura and San Bernardino counties, who account for at least half the region's homicides, authorities estimate. The majority 80,000 to 85,000 are in Los Angeles County, which has the nation's largest gang problem. Statistics in Long Beach show roughly 6,000 gang members representing about 50 gang sets make the city their home. Not surprisingly, Long Beach Police Chief Anthony Batts met Feinstein's plan with enthusiasm. "While we know there is no simple solution to the complex riddle that is gang violence, we wholeheartedly support the (proposed law) and await the opportunity to realize its benefits," he said in a written statement Thursday. The Press Telegram and its sister paper, the Daily News of Los Angeles, reported last fall about an explosion in gang membership across Southern California since the 1960s in the face of ineffective law enforcement efforts and inadequate prevention and intervention strategies. Youth advocates criticized the proposal as short-sighted, saying juvenile offenders need to be rehabilitated rather than incarcerated in federal prison. "If you were going to engineer a system to create a class of individuals who can't get jobs because they're not educated and have felony convictions, and have few resources for support other than illegal means, you'd do it by sending kids into the adult justice system," said Mark Soler, president of the Youth Law Center in Washington, D.C. News Topics | Home | Research | History | Blood Gangs | Crip Gangs | People| Life in a Gang | Gallery | Iraqi Cards | Memorial | Migration | Graffiti | Resume| Injunctions Homicides | Maps | California Prisons | Contact

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