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Example of Criminal Gang Activity

17 February, 2016 - 11:05

Review the example with Mike and the North Side Boys given in . Assume that Mike resumes selling illegal controlled substances at the behest of the North Side Boys after his initiation and is arrested. If the state where Mike sells illegal controlled substances has a gang participation statute and grades the crime of sale of illegal controlled substances as a felony, Mike could be prosecuted for and convicted of this crime. He furthered and assisted in the North Side Boys’ sale of illegal controlled substances with the general intent or knowingly that members of the North Side Boys engaged in this pattern of criminal gang activity. If the state also has a gang enhancement statute, Mike could have his sentence for sale of illegal controlled substances enhanced because he committed the sale of illegal controlled substances in furtherance of the criminal gang. In either situation, Mike will b e punished more severely for the sale of illegal controlled substances than an individual defendant who sells illegal controlled substances on his or her own, rather than at the direction or in furtherance of a criminal gang.

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Figure 12.5 Diagram of Typical Modern Gang Statutes