This legislation enacts a number of provisions about gang-related offenses. For example, it creates an offense for aspiring to commit or committing certain crimes as a member of a criminal street gang and it establishes penalties for directing the activities of street gangs. It also requires children who are arrested for committing crimes as gang members to participate in gang intervention programs.
The Act enhances penalties for certain organized criminal activity committed in or around a gang-free zone and provides that a map from a municipal county engineer is admissible as evidence of a gang-free zone. It requires information about gang-free zones be included in the student handbooks or equivalent publications of public or private elementary or secondary schools and institutions of higher education and also be distributed to the parents and guardians of children who attend day-cares.
It enables the state or another governmental entity to bring an action against a member of a criminal street gang for damages when the member violates a temporary or permanent injunction. A district, county, or city attorney or the attorney general can sue to recover actual damages, civil penalties, and court costs and fees.
The legislation makes the property of a criminal street gang or its members subject to seizure under certain conditions. Money received for damages or as a civil penalty must be used to benefit of the community or harmed neighborhood.
It authorizes a court to impose electronic monitoring on a member of a criminal street gang as a condition of granting community supervision. The bill authorizes a parole panel to impose on a member of a criminal street gang who is a repeat offender electronic monitoring as a condition of release on parole or mandatory supervision.
The Act establishes criteria for including evidence of membership in a criminal street gang intelligence database and allows that information to be retained for five years.
The legislation also provides for the creation of a state anti-gang grant program to support regional, multidisciplinary approaches to combat gang violence.