The Associated Press
SANTA FE (AP) - Gov. Bill Richardson is expected to unveil a legislative plan to fight gangs Monday that creates stiffer penalties for gang-related crimes, the governor’s criminal justice adviser said.
Bob Schwartz said the proposed legislation would make it illegal for people to recruit gang members or to retaliate against a person who left a gang, the Albuquerque Journal reported in a copyright story in Sunday editions.
The legislation would define what constitutes a criminal gang.
“There is not one syllable on our books that relates to gang violence specifically,” Schwartz said.
Authorities estimate that there are some 300 documented gangs and 6,500 gang members statewide, although they call those documented cases just a fraction of the true number. In Bernalillo County alone, police estimate there are 18,000 gang members.
The proposed legislation would call for mandatory enhancement penalties for certain crimes, such as auto theft, extortion, drive-by shootings and witness intimidation.
The penalties would add two to eight years of mandatory prison time to a sentence, based on the severity of the crime.
Richardson also plans to ask lawmakers for $100,000 to restore funding to the New Mexico Gang Task Force, which had its budget cut by 35 percent when the state lost federal grant money for criminal justice programs this year.
The governor wants rural communities to start using the state’s nuisance abatement laws to fight gang activity and has plans for youth gang intervention programs, Schwartz said.
Schwartz, who is a former prosecutor, said the plan comes as gang activity increases in New Mexico, especially in rural areas.
“This is way up there on the governor’s priority list,” he said.
Several versions of anti-gang legislation have been sent to the state lawmakers over the past decade, and all have failed.