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 bill aimed at addressing violent crime by requiring renewed federal reporting on gang activity. The legislation would mandate that the Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) resume annual reports to Congress about trends in local, national, and transnational criminal gang activity. These reports were previously 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.”

Although both DOJ and FBI have established units focused on combating criminal gangs, regular reporting to Congress has not occurred over much of the past decade. The FBI’s National Gang Threat Assessment last provided information about gang membership trends in 2009, while DOJ’s National Gang Center stopped reporting on growth in gang numbers in 2012. The Attorney General’s most recent report concerning violent street gangs’ expansion into suburban areas was submitted in 2008.

The full text of the legislation is available HERE.