Des Moines Sun

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Senator Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) have reintroduced the Gang Activity Reporting Act, a bipartisan effort aimed at addressing violent crime in the United States. The proposed legislation would require the Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to provide annual reports to Congress on criminal gang activity trends at local, national, and transnational levels. These reports had previously been discontinued in 2009 and 2012.

Grassley stated, “Criminal gangs have been responsible for nearly half of all violent crime. To address this longstanding issue, Congress must have access to accurate, consistent and reliable data on gang activity and membership trends. This commonsense, bipartisan bill would revive information-sharing between the executive branch and Congress, allowing lawmakers to make more informed and timely decisions to end the scourge of gang violence in America.”

Rosen added, “We know that gangs are responsible for a disproportionate amount of violent crime in the United States. As communities across the country grapple with devastating gang violence, we must ensure they have access to the resources and support to combat it. With this bipartisan bill’s required comprehensive federal report on gang membership data and trends, we can better understand how gangs are contributing to violent crime and take the right steps to support law enforcement and strengthen public safety.”

The background provided notes that while both DOJ and FBI established specialized units to address gang activity, their reporting has declined over the past decade. The FBI’s National Gang Threat Assessment ceased its congressional updates after 2009, while the DOJ’s National Gang Center ended its trend reporting in 2012. The last Attorney General's report concerning street gangs' growth in suburban areas was submitted in 2008.