Pubdate: Mon, 23 May 2005
Source: Virginian-Pilot (VA)
Copyright: 2005, The Virginian-Pilot
Contact:  http://www.pilotonline.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/483
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing)

TOUGH ON GANGS, HARD ON STATES

The growing Republican embrace of big government solutions is once
again on display in the House of Representatives. This time, while the
target is gangs, the casualties are states' rights and judicial discretion.

Last week, the House passed a bill to make a multitude of gang crimes
federal offenses with mandatory minimum prison sentences ranging from
10 years to the death penalty.

The Gang Deterrence and Community Protection Act , sponsored by U.S.
Rep. J. Randy Forbes of Chesapeake, was introduced largely as a
response to two events. The first is the gruesome MS-13 gang slayings
in Northern Virginia, which occurred within the shadow of the nation's
capital.

The second is the Supreme Court's ruling earlier this year giving
judges freedom from federal sentencing guidelines.

No one disputes the seriousness of gang violence or that gangs are
spreading from state to state.

But under the terms of the "Gangbusters" legislation, a "criminal
street gang" is at least three people who commit two or more gang
crimes (one of which must be violent), now defined as a host of drug
crimes and a multitude of other felonies.

For example, the definition is so broad and vague that the three boys
with the same fraternity tattoos could be classified as a street gang
if they were involved in an incident that included drugs and
fisticuffs. Critics say the law would go so far as to permit capital
prosecutions for accidental deaths arising from fights, for example.

This bill would give the Justice Department jurisdiction over criminal
activities that are more appropriately left to state and local
governments.

This troubling expansion of federal powers is all the more surprising
because it was hatched by the party of limited government and state's
rights. Local law enforcement responsibilities shouldn't be handed
over to Washington.

It would succeed in clogging federal courts with petty crimes and
crowding federal prisons with petty criminals. The federal dollars
this would consume would be better spent by police departments in Virginia.

And in yet another slap at federal judges, the bill subverts the
Supreme Court's earlier ruling, which allowed the judiciary more
sentencing discretion. Put simply, this legislation means judges
wouldn't be allowed to judge. Instead, their hands would be tied by
rigid guidelines, regardless of individual circumstances.

Forbes' bill is well-meaning, but overreaching. Drug dealing and
possession, kidnapping, murder, racketeering and most other gang
activities are already state crimes.

The Virginia General Assembly is more than willing to give law
enforcement all the tools and resources it needs to combat gangs.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake