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Gang Prosecutions - Politically Correct Prosecutions going after Low-hanging fruit

By PD Dude

I've written about it before, but it's become ever more absurd where I practice law. As noted in this Los Angeles Times article, the Los Angeles DA is filing ever more cases with "gang allegations" against people, no matter what the case, increasing exponentially the amount of time people are getting in prison.First of all, what am I talking about? California has passed a number of laws aimed at gang members over the years, generally in Penal Code Section 186.22. They have basically made it so that if a gang member commits a crime, the punishment is significantly larger than if any other member of society does it. Fair enough, one may say, gang members are wreaking havoc on society.But, consider the effects. 18 year old kids who spray graffiti on a wall are suddenly being punished not with misdemeanors and a few hours of community service, or even a little bit of jail, but with felonies...continue to full post

Full post as published by Public Defender Dude on March 31, 2007 (boomark / email).