For Immediate Release
February 1, 2005
Please Contact: Michael Bloom, 617-722-1650

Stricter Penalties, Community Partnerships Centerpiece of Statewide Anti-Gang Initiative

After a summer marred by increases in gang violence and the attempted shooting of a gang witness in New Bedford last week, a key legislative committee today joined prosecutors, police and community leaders in unveiling an anti-gang initiative that calls for a renewed statewide effort to strengthen criminal penalties for gang-related activity and more resources to support community outreach to at-risk youth. 

The anti-gang initiative, which is laid out in a twenty-two page report written by Senator Jarrett T. Barrios, Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security, calls for the Legislature and Governor to strengthen witness protection and gun laws, boost community policing in affected areas, and direct resources to encourage community partnerships between law enforcement and neighborhoods. 

“No one in Massachusetts should ever feel afraid to walk down their street or play in their neighborhood park,” said Senator Barrios who has spent the last year meeting with law enforcement and community leaders about increases in gang violence. “It’s time for a revitalized statewide focus on putting a stop to gang violence that threatens the safety of our neighborhoods.”

The initiative was praised by urban mayors, prosecutors, and community groups who said it focuses as much on keeping at-risk youth off the streets and out of trouble as it does on giving law enforcement more tools to fight gang violence.

“The battle against gang violence must be a combination of prosecution, protection and prevention, and we need our policy makers to support this multifaceted approach,” said Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley.  “I commend Senator Barrios for researching this critical issue and crafting a proactive blueprint that targets gun offenders, protects witnesses, and diverts children from lives of guns and gangs. I join the senator in urging statewide support of this initiative.”

The report specifically calls for the state to move forward on three separate tracks of prosecution, policing and prevention:

• Stronger Prosecution:  The report calls for responding to new tactics used by criminals and violent gang members by strengthening victim and witness protection laws and establishing a statewide witness protection program.
   
• Targeted Policing:  The report calls for strengthening penalties up to five years in prison for illegal gun trafficking and illegal possession of a loaded firearm, restoring Community Policing Grants to put police officers back on the streets in gang-impacted cities, and eliminating a backlog in the state’s database tracking guns used in crimes.
   
• Prevention:  The report calls for the creation of a statewide competitive grant program for projects which feature partnerships between local law enforcement and community-based anti-violence organizations seeking to stem gang violence through community partnerships, summer employment, youth leadership development and other activities.

"The key ingredient to successful prevention and intervention is trust between the young person and the adult,” said Angie Rodriguez, Outreach Coordinator at Roca, Inc. which serves at-risk youth in Chelsea, East Boston, Revere and Lynn.  “That starts when the young person knows you are meeting them where they’re at, and you respect them as an individual with potential. Once that trust is established and continues - no matter how rocky the road gets - change is under way. This is when the young person starts holding themselves responsible and starts taking charge of their own life."

In September 2004, the Joint Committee on Public Safety held a day-long State House hearing to investigate the state’s response to youth violence and a startling statewide increase in gang-related crimes. Twenty-one state and local law enforcement officials, community leaders and youth outreach workers testified that more funding and resources need to be provided to anti-gang efforts. 

Barrios and New Bedford Representative Stephen Canessa have also filed a companion anti-gang bill based on parts of the report’s recommendations.  The bill would establish a witness protection program, strengthen criminal penalties, and include stay-away orders as a condition of bail in gang-related cases.

The Committee’s report, entitled “Reducing Gang Violence in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts” can be downloaded in its entirety here.

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