Mikulski Fights for Tougher Anti-Gang Measures Nationwide
Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.) has joined a bipartisan group of her Senate colleagues, led by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), to introduce the Gang Abatement and Prevention Act of 2007. This comprehensive criminal bill will increase gang prosecution and prevention efforts nationwide. Senator Mikulski is Chairman of the Senate Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) Appropriations Subcommittee, which funds the Department of Justice, including the FBI and federal law enforcement programs.
"This bill helps us address a growing gang crisis in our neighborhoods that is destroying lives and destroying communities," said Senator Mikulski. "We need to take a comprehensive look at gang problems that focuses on prevention, intervention and enforcement."
The bill outlines several steps to crackdown on gang violence across the nation, including:
# $1 billion to support federal, state and local law enforcement efforts against violent gangs, and toward witness protection programs and gang prevention services over the next five years.
$500 million authorized to create a new High Intensity Interstate Gang Activity Area (HIIGAA) program over the next five years that will facilitate cooperation between local, state and federal law enforcement in identifying, targeting, and eliminating violent gangs in areas where gang activity is particularly prevalent. Half of this HIIGAA funding is for intervention and prevention efforts by schools and civic groups focused on at-risk youth.
# Increases funding for the Justice Department, federal prosecutors and FBI agents to increase coordinated federal enforcement efforts against violent gangs.
# Replaces the current federal law's mere sentencing enhancement for gang-related conduct - a provision rarely used - with a new federal anti-gang law that directly criminalizes and penalizes criminal street gang crime.
# Creates new criminal gang offenses to prohibit recruitment of minors in a gang, and to punish violent crimes related to gangs.
# Increases penalties for existing racketeering and other violent crimes, creates a new federal crime for violence committed in furtherance of drug trafficking, and enacts various other changes.
In 2006, Senator Mikulski kicked off a statewide anti-gang initiative in Maryland that she secured $2 million in funds for in the 2006 CJS spending bill. The funding now supports the U.S. Attorney's Office in its coordination of local, state and federal law enforcement, and pays for prosecutorial and anti-gang programs in the Baltimore metro area and throughout the state.
http://mikulski.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=268281