STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5853
2011-2012 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
March 2, 2011
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Introduced by M. of A. P. RIVERA, HEVESI, WEISENBERG, ABBATE, MAISEL,
HOOPER, SCHROEDER, CALHOUN, KOLB, THIELE, TITUS, TOBACCO -- Multi-
Sponsored by -- M. of A. ARROYO, BURLING, CONTE, GIGLIO, GUNTHER,
MAGEE, McKEVITT, MILLMAN, PHEFFER, RAIA, SWEENEY -- read once and
referred to the Committee on Codes
AN ACT to amend the penal law and the criminal procedure law, in
relation to the crime of engaging in criminal street gang activity
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The penal law is amended by adding a new section 240.75 to
2 read as follows:
3 § 240.75 Engaging in criminal street gang activity.
4 1. As used in this section, "criminal street gang" means a group of
5 three or more persons having as one of its substantial activities or
6 purposes the commission of one or more of the following crimes:
7 (a) any misdemeanor or felony offense defined in article one hundred
8 twenty, one hundred twenty-five, one hundred thirty, one hundred thir-
9 ty-five, one hundred forty, one hundred forty-five, one hundred fifty,
10 one hundred fifty-five, one hundred sixty, one hundred sixty-five, two
11 hundred fifteen, two hundred twenty, two hundred twenty-one, two hundred
12 twenty-five, two hundred thirty or two hundred sixty-five of this chap-
13 ter; or
14 (b) harassment in the first or second degree as defined in section
15 240.25 or 240.26 of this article, respectively; or
16 (c) aggravated harassment in the first or second degree as defined in
17 section 240.30 or 240.31 of this article, respectively.
18 2. A person is guilty of engaging in criminal street gang activity
19 when he or she, being a member of a criminal street gang or acting in
20 concert with a member of a criminal street gang, engages in any of the
21 following activities:
22 (a) solicitation of another to join a criminal street gang;
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00283-01-1
A. 5853 2
1 (b) deterring or attempting to deter another from leaving a criminal
2 street gang;
3 (c) concealing or attempting to conceal any of the following activ-
4 ities or crimes of one or more members of a criminal street gang: (i)
5 any of the activities set forth in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this subdi-
6 vision, (ii) any of the crimes set forth in paragraph (a), (b) or (c) of
7 subdivision one of this section, (iii) commerce in any controlled
8 substance or marihuana, the possession of which is an offense under the
9 public health law or this chapter, or (iv) any other unlawful activity;
10 or
11 (d) exercising or attempting to exercise control over an identifiable
12 geographic area by taking actions reasonably construed to intimidate or
13 prevent persons from entering such an area or an adjacent area, includ-
14 ing without limitation marking such area in a manner to indicate the
15 intent to exercise control over the area.
16 Engaging in criminal street gang activity is a class A misdemeanor.
17 § 2. Subdivision 8 of section 700.05 of the criminal procedure law is
18 amended by adding a new paragraph (u) to read as follows:
19 (u) Engaging in criminal street gang activity, as defined in section
20 240.75 of the penal law.
21 § 3. This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeed-
22 ing the date on which it shall have become a law.