Actually, It’s Judge-Busters

House Republicans last week passed a chain-saw-style anti-gang bill, though it’s hard to say whether they want to wield it against criminal street gangs or “activist” judges.

The “Gangbusters” bill, sponsored by Rep. J. Randy Forbes (R-Va.), would allow some gang crimes to be tried in federal court, imposing minimum sentences ranging from 10 years to life. This provision seems as much a swipe at the judicial system as at gangs, coming so soon after the January ruling by the Supreme Court that loosened federal sentencing rules, thereby allowing judges to actually exercise, well, judgment. The House bill also allows the death penalty for gang murders and -- just when the California Youth Authority is at least paying lip service to rehabilitation -- permits even more 16- and 17-year-olds to be tried as adults.

A committed national (even global) strategy is needed against brutal gangs like Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, formed in Los Angeles by Salvadoran immigrants in the 1980s and now found throughout much of this country and Central America. The Mafia-like gang runs drug and human smuggling operations and has murdered informants and witnesses.

But the problem with a one-size-fits-all measure is that there is no single type of gang. Most gang violence belongs in the category of “disorganized crime,” in the words of Father Gregory Boyle, L.A.’s Eastside priest who has worked for decades to steer homeboys toward jobs. It tends to be random and impulsive, the acts of youths whose typical age-related alienation is exacerbated by poverty, strained families, failing schools and scarce jobs. They are not following orders as much as the loose rules of “the street,” which too often dictate committing crimes and shooting at rivals as a route to social status. Such gang violence is no less deadly, but it calls for different tactics than those used against the Mafia or MS-13.

The House bill has one sensible provision: It allocates $388 million over five years for law enforcement efforts to break up violent gangs. But a better option is a Senate measure, co-sponsored by Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), that not only gets tough on gangs by providing more money for law enforcement but allocates $250 million for community-based gang prevention and intervention. The scalpel that separates a young man from a gang saves lives, too.