NCJ Number
179057
Journal
Journal of Gang Research Volume: 6 Issue: 4 Dated: Summer 1999 Pages: 49-55
Editor(s)
George W. Knox Ph.D.
Date Published
1999
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This paper presents the background, content, and implications of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision (June 10, 1999) to affirm the Illinois Supreme Court's decision that a Chicago anti-loitering law designed to curb gang activity was unconstitutional.
Abstract
The law that was ruled unconstitutional authorized a police officer who "observes a person whom he reasonably believes to be a criminal street gang member, loitering in any public place with ten or more other persons, to order the entire group to move on and arrest anyone who remains." "Loitering" in the context of the law is defined as "to remain in any one place with no apparent purpose." The Chicago law raised First Amendment issues of freedom of assembly and association. Some major issues at the core of the "injunction" and "anti-loitering" laws are the difficulty of the police, in the moment of contact, to accurately determine whether or not a group of youths on a corner is in fact a gang, who is in fact a gang member, and whether or not, in terms of their mental state (mens rea), they are planning to violate the law. The striking down of these laws by the Court helps to eliminate the inaccurate labeling of an innocent youth. There are many approaches for controlling illegal gang activities in a positive and therapeutic way that do not have the potential for violating the constitutional rights of youth and placing them under the criminogenic influences of the criminal justice system.