Targeting Gang Crime: Once More, With Feeling

Southern California, Los Angeles County in particular, has been stained with blood by gang warfare and murders, and seared by the pain of seeing the killers get away because of witness intimidation. Now President Clinton has again put gang crime on the nation’s agenda, and both Republicans and Democrats might see the timing as right for action.

In his weekly radio address on Saturday, the president promised a greater priority for combating gangs and the drug culture during his second term. Last year, Clinton’s proposed Anti-Gang and Youth Violence Act, which would have allowed prosecution of juveniles as adults and stiffened penalties for witness intimidation and other youth crimes, went nowhere. But in this term prospects have improved. For instance, newly reelected House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) challenged House members to find new ways to address drug abuse, ignorance and racial divisions, all of which contribute to the growth and staying power of street gangs.

In the Senate, Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has taken the lead on gang legislation. Her proposed Federal Gang Violence Act, which would have doubled sentences for gang members who commit federal crimes, including witness intimidation, interstate travel for criminal purposes, recruiting minors, gunrunning and some drive-by shootings, also stalled last session. She will reintroduce the bill, and a thinking Senate should give it a fair hearing and passage.

Federal legislation could also provide more money for witness protection and relocation programs, which would encourage eyewitnesses to street violence to take a stand. A recent Times study of homicides between 1990 and 1994 found that more than 1,000 gang killers are free on our streets because witnesses have been threatened or killed. When fifth-grade teacher Alfredo Perez was shot in the head in front of his class at Figueroa Street Elementary last February, a witness identified the shooter as a gang member who, he said, had been aiming at a car of rival gang members. The Perez case resulted in two hung juries, in part because the witness changed his statement on the stand and said he could not identify the gunman. The father of the witness said intimidation was a factor in the recanted testimony.

Los Angeles is the nation’s gang capital with more than 150,000 members in 1,200 street gangs by police count. Gov. Pete Wilson specifically mentioned Los Angeles’ 20,000-member 18th Street gang in his State of the State speech last week. The 18th Streeters’ local violence and interstate reach were profiled last year in another Times series. Nationally, a Justice Department report found that 88% of America’s big cities and 55% of smaller ones suffer from gang-related problems.

Orange County authorities, for instance, have struggled with gangs in many cities in recent years, and Clinton’s message was welcomed there as well as in Los Angeles County. Santa Ana is using federal funds to revitalize troubled neighborhoods where gang members prey, and it has developed a police program that targets gang leaders. Several Orange County communities also use federal funds to put more police on the streets and to try to improve relations between police and residents, an important factor in battling gangs.

Street gangs have terrorized this region for generations. Any help that Clinton and Congress can deliver would be welcome.