Honorable John Whitmire, Chair, Senate Committee on Criminal Justice
FROM:
John S. O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:
SB937 by Carona (Relating to the prosecution of and punishment for certain criminal offenses involving a criminal street gang. ), Committee Report 1st House, Substituted
The bill would amend the Penal Code as it relates to a criminal street gang. The bill would increase the punishment of criminal solicitation of a minor to the same category as the solicited offense, depending on the circumstances, if the person was 17 years of age or older and a member of a criminal street gang and committed the offense with the intent to further the criminal activities of the criminal street gang or avoid detection as a member of a criminal street gang. The offense is currently punishable as one category lower than the solicited offense. The bill would broaden the offense of coercing, soliciting, or inducing gang membership to include threatening a member of a child’s family and causing bodily injury to a member of a child’s family with the intent to coerce, induce, or solicit a child to actively participate in the activities of a criminal street gang. The offenses are punishable as a state jail felony and felony of the third degree, respectively.
A state jail felony is punishable by confinement in a state jail for any term of not more than two years or less than 180 days, or, in addition to confinement, a fine not to exceed $10,000.
A felony of the third degree is punishable by imprisonment in the institutional division for any term of not more than 10 years or less than 2 years, or, in addition to confinement, a fine not to exceed $10,000.
Creating, broadening, and increasing the penalty for any criminal offense is expected to result in increased demands upon the correctional resources of counties or of the State due to longer terms of probation, or, longer terms of confinement in county jails or prison. A check of Texas Department of Criminal Justice records, Department of Public Safety records, Office of Court Administration records, and Jail Standards Commission records did not reveal any information that would help in an accurate assumption regarding criminal street gangs and criminal solicitation of a minor and intent, threats or bodily injury of a family member, and online harassment to further interests of criminal street gang; therefore, the probable impact of implementing the bill cannot be determined.