Gov. Martin O?Malley has promised to bring a more cooperative, bipartisan spirit to Annapolis, and one Republican senator said he?s “putting his money where his mouth is.”
Sen. Nancy Jacobs, R-Harford, introduced the Gang Prosecution Act of 2007 as the lead sponsor, co-sponsored by the O?Malley administration, Democratic Attorney General Doug Gansler and State?s Attorneys? Association.
“The governor was gracious enough to realize that this had been a very important issue to me,” Jacobs said. A member of the Judicial Proceedings Committee, she had been the first to sponsor an anti-gang bill two years ago.
“I?ve been working with the State?s Attorneys? Association since last April” on the new legislation, she said.
Gansler said the bill, presented Monday, creates something like the federal RICO act, allowing prosecution for a pattern of criminal conspiracy by gangs. Under the bill, the attorney general is given the same powers as local prosecutors to go after gang members, including those who coerce juveniles into criminal activity.
