Tougher Laws Against Gangs

Gangs’ existence dates back to the earlier centuries. Records show that as early as the 1920s, Chicago had over 1,000 gangs in existence. Today, Los Angeles is known to be the Gang Capital of America with over 120,000 gang members here out of the 800,000 gang members all over the nation. In Maryland, it is estimated that 350 gangs operate in the state with a total of 7,750 members. Majority of the gangs (75%) operate from prison, recruiting newly convicted individuals for protection.

With the high numbers, Maryland State signed Maryland's Gang Prosecution Act and it was implemented in 2007. Two years had passed and prosecutors now are rallying to have it redrafted correctly. According to Attorney Joseph I. Cassilly, Harford County State's Attorney, the law is “watered-down” and “useless” because of certain terms and provisions that has broad meanings. They stated the case filed to a group of persons who had stabbed and beaten a man. When the case appeared on the court and the prosecutors could not prove criminal conspiracy among the accused, the charges have been dropped down to simple assault. Several other cases like the beating of a middle school student in front of the vice principal, shootouts on an MTA bus and Inner Harbor, and the killings of a 14-year-old boy from Crofton and a 38-year-old man from Rosedale.

Maryland’s top law enforcement officials scheduled to meet this week include Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler, Corrections Secretary Gary D. Maynard and Baltimore State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy with legislature’s House Judiciary Committee. They would meet to talk about changing the law and making it more useful. Some of the provisions that they seek are giving a clear meaning to the terms “gang” and “gang crimes”. They are also going to talk about having harder penalties.

According to them, federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act (RICO) is the model that they prefer. One provision that RICO stipulates is that US attorneys can prosecute gang members for the crime done by their colleagues. U.S. Attorney for Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein shared further that RICO makes it a crime by just being part of a criminal organization.

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