A new Illinois law was signed yesterday:
The new law is modeled after the federal racketeering law known as RICO,
which was originally designed to target mobsters but in recent years
has been used repeatedly by the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago to target the top leadership of street gangs.
Now the state version will allow county prosecutors to take similar action against a street gang as a whole, instead of individual members... Different crimes can be grouped into one criminal proceeding, allowing prosecutors to paint a more complete picture of a gang's criminal activity for judges and juries.
Gang members who are convicted of criminal conspiracy under the law
could face more than 30 years in prison. Fines could top $250,000. The
government also would be able to seize gang assets such as drug proceeds, real estate and other holdings. - Tribune
Hmm. Not sure how I feel about this yet... I think I can see pros and cons coming out of this. The seizing real estate thing is what worries me the most... could they just label any household with weed in it 'connected to gang activity' and take the home? It'll be interesting to see how this actually plays out in practice.
Uptown Update's opinion: Not sure how it will work out, but we
are happy that gangbangers are finally legally recognized as the urban
blight that they are. Not "good boys just hanging with the wrong
people," but members of a well-organized, intentional criminal
organization. Now let's see the States Attorney and the courts put some teeth into it.
I can see their stance, but I hope we're also putting equal amounts of energy into gang prevention programs.
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