Matthew Santoni, The Examiner
2008-03-12 08:00:00.0
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Annapolis -

A slew of anti-gang measures received strong support from police and prosecutors statewide in a Senate committee hearing in Annapolis on Tuesday.

The eight bills were aimed at strengthening the anti-gang act passed last year by broadening the criteria for prosecuting criminals as gang members and stiffening the penalties for crimes committed by gangs.

“The gang problems in Maryland have reached epidemic levels. Gang members are now in every county and every jurisdiction in this state,” said Sen. Nancy Jacobs, sponsor of the bill.

Jennifer Rallo, assistant state’s attorney for the Baltimore City juvenile division, supported the bill that would allow gang members older than 16 to be prosecuted as adults. She said her office often is faced with increasingly violent teens in gangs and has difficulty getting the cases waived to the adult court system.

“These violent gang offenders do not belong in the juvenile system,” Rallo said. “This bill will untie the hands of prosecutors and really go after the violent gang members who are hiding behind juveniles.”

Even inside the juvenile system, gang members are able to recruit others inside juvenile facilities, mark territory or use intimidation to exploit the juvenile court’s inability to compel witnesses to testify.

Cpl. Thomas Gamble, head of Harford County’s anti-gang task force, testified in favor of a bill that would include misdemeanor assault and malicious destruction of property on the list of crimes carrying an additional penalty if committed by a gang member.

Sen. Lisa Gladden, vice chairwoman of the committee, cautioned that gangs’ intimidation of witnesses and neighbors might make it difficult to produce the evidence prosecutors would need, regardless of the laws.

Sen. Jamie Raskin had doubts about lowering the bar for the severity of crimes that could be prosecuted under the gang law, worrying that the definition of gangs was getting too broad and questioning the merits of tackling nonviolent crimes. Gamble responded that the intimidation that sustains a gang is usually nonviolent, such as gang tags spray-painted on the house of police cooperators.

msantoni@baltimoreexaminer.com