By Lauren R. Dorgan, Monitor Staff Writer
April 10, 2008- 6:49am
Gang leaders would face longer sentences for their crimes under a bill that won the endorsement of a House committee yesterday.
The original Senate bill targeted all gang members for enhanced penalties, but House committee members said they thought that was overbroad. The new bill aims at only those who function as a "leader, organizer or supervisor" of a group of three or more "whose primary purpose is to engage in or promote criminal conduct." For a felony charge, for example, gang leaders could face a charge of 10 to 30 years.
"When we looked at the main bill, the description of how to identify gang members left me cold," said Rep. David Welch, a Kingston Democrat on the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee.
Others argued the narrower language would be fairer. "Those are the people we should be after - the person who instigates and has others do his dirty work," said Timothy Robertson, a Keene Democrat on the committee.
The House move may spur a fight with the Senate, which passed its version of the gang bill with 11 Senate co-sponsors and a 23-0 vote on the Senate floor. Prime sponsor Sen. Ted Gatsas, a Manchester Republican, could not be reached for comment last night. The attorney general's office helped craft the original bill and also aided in the bill's overhaul.
"I think that we will support any legislation that targets gang activity," said Ann Rice, an assistant attorney general. Greater penalties could have a deterrent effect, she said.
Welch questioned the prominence of gangs in New Hampshire, saying he recently served on Gov. John Lynch's commission on crime, led by Attorney General Kelly Ayotte.
"There was actually no mention of gang activity," he said. The committee's not-yet-released report contains just one sentence dealing with gang violence, he said, and that called for "increased information sharing" about them.
At yesterday's hearing, Rep. Delmar Burridge said he hopes a law change will give incentive for low-level members who don't "hold the check" or "hold the cap" - street lingo he heard in his 35-year career in juvenile court in Philadelphia - to "snitch."
"That's how we get these guys," said Burridge, a Keene Democrat who's an assistant professor of criminal justice at the Community Technical College in Claremont. "A gang guy doesn't walk around, 'Hey, I'm the leader of the pack.' "
Burridge said he didn't know if there's a gang problem in New Hampshire. "My experience is in Philadelphia," he said, although he said he'd seen graffiti of crowns or "enhanced writing" that could be gang-related in Keene. But, he added, it could just be artistic.
Sponsors of the original gang bill said they have seen an uptick in gang activity in New Hampshire's urban areas. "First of all, we know that gangs exist, and we know that gang violence is becoming a significant problem part in our urban centers, and Manchester is one of those urban centers," Sen. Lou D'Allesandro, a Manchester Democrat, said earlier this week.
In his own neighborhood on Manchester's west side, D'Allesandro said, there's been a stabbing and a shooting, crime like he's never seen in 40 years.
Last month, a gang-focused task force arrested seven people in Manchester on drug charges. Last fall, the Concord police reported a rash of graffiti that appeared to mimic the work of gangs. In Nashua, according to the Telegraph, one neighborhood has sprouted graffiti and another neighborhood group has taken colors and hand signs of gangs, although the police have shied from the term "gang," characterizing the groups as youngsters who listen to hip-hop and want to act tough.
Manchester Police Chief John Jaskolka told WMUR last month that gang activity in his city had become more serious in recent years. "We've always had the local gangs," he said. "A couple years ago, say three or four years ago, they were basically street thugs or wannabe gang members. Now, we're starting to see an influx of the national gangs coming up and trying to get a stronghold here in the city."
Critics of the original Senate gang bill, which aimed at members of "criminal street gangs," said it was open to too much interpretation. Michael Iacopino, president of the New Hampshire Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, made the suggestions that prompted legislators to narrow the focus to gang leaders. He said the original bill "didn't necessarily apply to street gangs - it could be applied to Enron."
Rice disagreed, saying that the "primary purpose" language is widely used in anti-gang legislation.
"It has to be a group of three or more people whose primary purpose is the commission of crimes," she said. "I think Enron was considered a legitimate business."
The bill cleared the House Criminal Justice and Safety Committee on a vote of 17-1.
But opponents remain, including the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union's executive director, who said she feared the law could be misapplied.
"My fear is that you get some individual who plans a robbery and recruits two people to join him: One of them is going to drive the car, and one of them is going to be the lookout. Under what's described there, that could be a gang," Claire Ebel said.
"Do they deserve to be punished for that crime? Absolutely," Ebel said. "Do they deserve to have an enhanced penalty because one of them was the leader of the band? I don't agree."
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