Cornyn-Backed Bill to Combat Gang Violence Passes Senate

Press Release

Cornyn-Backed Bill to Combat Gang Violence Passes Senate

The U.S. Senate unanimously approved bipartisan legislation co-sponsored by U.S. Sen. John Cornyn on Friday to fight rising gang violence. The Gang Abatement and Prevention Act of 2007, S. 456, establishes new criminal laws and tougher penalties to deter and punish members of street gangs. It also provides more than $1 billion in funding for gang enforcement, prevention and intervention programs.

"Passage of this bill is an important step forward in cracking down on gang-related violence, which is increasingly affecting big cities and small towns across Texas," said Sen. Cornyn, a member of the Judiciary Committee. "This legislation will make our communities safer by enacting new criminal laws and tougher penalties to help end and prevent gang violence wherever it exists."

The Gang Abatement and Prevention Act would help those working on the front lines in the fight against gangs through new laws and tougher penalties against those who commit gang-related crimes. It would also authorize funding for investigations, prosecutions and witness protection programs, and invest in successful community programs to prevent young people from joining gangs in the first place.

"We must provide local law enforcement officials and federal prosecutors the tools they need to combat increasing gang crime and violence," Sen. Cornyn said. "It's also important to address the growing involvement of gangs with international crime syndicates that smuggle drugs and traffic human beings across our borders."

The Gang Abatement and Prevention Act of 2007 will do the following:

* Designate more than $1 billion to fund gang enforcement, prevention and intervention programs over five years;
* Replace the current federal law's sentencing enhancement for gang-related conduct with a section that directly criminalizes and penalizes criminal street gang crime, as well as related conspiracies and attempts to commit crimes in furtherance of a criminal street gang;
* Create new criminal offenses to prohibit recruitment of minors to criminal street gangs and gang recruitment in prisons;
* Increase the penalties for racketeering and other existing offenses, create a new federal crime for violence committed in furtherance of drug trafficking and establish violent crime reforms needed to effectively prosecute gang members.

On a related note, the anti-gang bill includes Sen. Cornyn's measure to target "cheese" heroin, a lethal drug causing addiction and death among a growing number of Texas youths. His amendment adds "cheese" heroin to the list of illegal drugs in the National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, providing resources to target the dangerous drug on a local level.

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