By Paul DeMarco
In the closing days of the Alabama legislative session, there have been a lot of ups and downs.
As we look back at what passed and what did not pass, a bill that did make it to the governor’s desk was one that enhanced penalties for gang activity. While that is how the bill started out, but Democrats did not like the word gangs so they changed the term to criminal enterprise, which they define as a coalition of three or more people involved in criminal activity.
If an individual is convicted of this new felony, they could receive mandated prison time at longer sentences. In addition, those under age 16 could be tried as adults if the crime was violent in nature.
After the mass shooting in Dadeville blamed on gang violence this past spring which left 32 injured and 4 dead, you would have thought the bill would have passed unanimously. However, there were still Democrats and those on the left who opposed the legislation. Despite the spike in violence in this country, there are progressive advocacy groups in this country and in Alabama who oppose stiffening penalties against criminals. In some cases, there appear to be more folks in the Alabama Statehouse lobbying on behalf of felons than crime victims.
Fortunately, the bill will be law and regardless of the semantics, hopefully it will give tools to prosecutors to target a real problem in this state – gang violence.
Paul DeMarco is a former member of the Alabama House of Representatives and can be found on Twitter @Paul_DeMarco