RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - North Carolina’s nearly decade-old law designed to punish and deter gang crimes and violence would be rewritten with new crimes and new definitions of gang activity in legislation that cleared a House committee on Tuesday.
Prosecutors and a law enforcement group backed the legislation they say is needed because it’s difficult to prosecute gang members under a 2008 state law. The definitions of criminal gangs and gang activity also aren’t specific enough, speakers before the judicial panel said.
These shortcomings have contributed to a low number of gang-crime convictions. Data presented to a legislative subcommittee last year showed 50 specific charges related to patterns of gang activity filed statewide in 2015, but no convictions.
“I can tell you that it’s not being used now,” said Pitt County District Attorney Kimberly Robb, estimating that 75 percent of the violent crime in her county is drug-related. “Anything that we can do to strengthen laws to help us eradicate the problem and help us control the problem is important.”
The 2008 law provides for separate felony counts for people who participate in a pattern of criminal gang activity or who are gang leaders or supervisors in that activity. These counts are separate from the inherent violent or property-related crimes they may commit.
The measure now heading to the House floor Wednesday would get rid of the separate gang count. Instead, a judge would increase punishments for underlying crimes if a jury also finds the offender committed the crime as part of criminal gang activity or is a gang leader or organizer.
For example, right now someone convicted of an assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill as a first-time offender with aggravating factors could receive a minimum sentence of about two years. A gang member’s minimum punishment would move up one felony level to more than five years in prison, while a gang leader’s sentence would move up two levels to above six years.
The bill also would increase punishments for current laws making it unlawful to threaten to injure someone who is trying to get out of a criminal gang or is helping someone leave.
Gang-related definitions in the law also would be more detailed, describing gang membership as when three or more people involved in criminal activity share common symbols, tattoos, attire and “common activities, customs or behaviors.” The North Carolina Gang Investigators Association also supports the bill, group president Mark Bridgeman said.
When the 2008 law was passed, legislators also located grant money for local gang prevention programs. Some communities, like Durham, have made inroads. But Durham gang reduction strategy manager Jim Stuit told the committee that “some individuals reject the help that’s offered and become hardened gang members.”
“We do believe that our best approach at this time is to come down hard on those who recruit our young people into gangs, those who organize and lead gangs … and those make who make the most profit from gang activity,” Stuit said.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.