All property, both personal and real, of any kind or character used in substantial connection with, intended for use in the course of, derived from, traceable to, or realized through, including any profit or interest derived from, any conduct in violation of any provision of this article is subject to civil forfeiture to the Commonwealth. Further, all property, both personal and real, of any kind or character used or intended to be used in substantial connection with, during the course of, derived from, traceable to, or realized through, including any profit or interest derived from, criminal street gang member recruitment as prohibited under § 18.2-46.3 is subject to civil forfeiture to the Commonwealth. The forfeiture proceeding shall utilize the provisions of Chapter 22.1 (§ 19.2-386.1 et seq.) of Title 19.2 and the procedures specified therein shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to all forfeitures under this article. The application of one civil remedy under the article does not preclude the application of any other remedy, civil or criminal, under this article or any other provision of the Code.
(Top)When it is determined, either by admission or investigation, by a state or local law-enforcement agency or a regional multi-jurisdictional law-enforcement task force, that a juvenile who has been arrested is a member of a youth gang, the arresting officer shall enter the juvenile’s name and other appropriate gang-related information required by the Department of State Police into the Youth Gang File of the Virginia Crime Information Network. The entry shall be made as soon as practicable after the determination is made.
For purposes of this section "youth gang" means an ongoing organization, association or group (i) having common characteristics, including but not limited to initiation practices, hand signals, structured style of dress, specific geographic territorial claim or identifiable leadership and (ii) consisting of three or more individuals, at least one of whom is a juvenile, who identify themselves as a group by a name or symbol and are involved in a pattern of recurrent felonious criminal conduct.
When it is determined, by a state or local law-enforcement agency, regional jail, the Department of Corrections, or a regional multijurisdictional law-enforcement task force, that a person is a member of a criminal street gang, as defined in § 18.2-46.1 by means of (i) an admission of membership in a gang; (ii) an observation by a law-enforcement officer that a person frequents a known gang area, associates with known gang members and demonstrates gang style of dress, tattoos, hand signals, or symbols; or (iii) being arrested on more than one occasion with known gang members for offenses consistent with gang activities, the agency shall enter the person's name and other appropriate gang-related information required by the Department of State Police into the information system known as the Organized Criminal Gang File of the Virginia Criminal Information Network (VCIN), established and maintained by the Department pursuant to Chapter 2 (§ 52-12 et seq.) of this title, and the Violent Criminal Gang File of the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The entry shall be made as soon as practicable after determining that a person is a member of an organized criminal gang. All records contained in these information systems shall be entered, retained, and validated in accordance with established VCIN and NCIC policies.
The Director shall be the chief executive officer of the Department and shall have the following duties and powers:
6. To collect data pertaining to the demographic characteristics of adults, and juveniles who are adjudicated as adults, incarcerated in state correctional institutions, including, but not limited to, the race or ethnicity, age, and gender of such persons, whether they are members of a criminal gang, and the types of and extent to which health-related problems are prevalent among such persons. Beginning July 1, 1997, such data shall be collected, tabulated quarterly, and reported by the Director to the Governor and the General Assembly at each regular session of the General Assembly thereafter. The report shall be submitted as provided in the procedures of the Division of Legislative Automated Systems for the processing of legislative documents and reports;
8. To forward to the Commonwealth's Attorneys' Services Council, updated on a monthly basis, a list of all identified criminal gang members incarcerated in state correctional institutions. The list shall contain identifying information for each criminal gang member, as well as his criminal record.
A. The Director shall coordinate with the Department of Corrections the development and submission of requests for compensation from the United States Department of Justice State Criminal Alien Assistance Program for costs associated with incarcerating undocumented aliens.
B. The Director shall forward to the Commonwealth's Attorneys' Services Council, updated on a monthly basis, a list of all juveniles, 14 years of age or older, who (i) have been committed to the Department, (ii) have been found guilty of a felony offense defined as a predicate criminal act under § 18.2-46.1, or have been adjudicated delinquent on the basis of an act that would be a felony and a predicate criminal act under § 18.2-46.1 if committed by an adult, and (iii) have been identified as belonging to a criminal gang. The list shall contain identifying information for each gang member, as well as the offense, court, and date of conviction or adjudication.
(Top)A. Any person who actively participates in or is a member of a criminal street gang and who knowingly and willfully participates in any predicate criminal act committed for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with any criminal street gang shall be guilty of a Class 5 felony. However, if such participant in or member of a criminal street gang is age 18 years or older and knows or has reason to know that such criminal street gang also includes a juvenile member or participant, he shall be guilty of a Class 4 felony.
B. Violation of this section shall constitute a separate and distinct offense. If the acts or activities violating this section also violate another provision of law, a prosecution under this section shall not prohibit or bar any prosecution or proceeding under such other provision or the imposition of any penalties provided for thereby.
(Top)Upon a felony conviction of Section 18.2-46.2 or Section 18.2-46.3, where it is alleged in the warrant, information, or indictment on which a person is convicted that (i) such person has been previously convicted twice under any combination of Section 18.2-46.2 or Section 18.2-46.3, within 10 years of the third or subsequent offense, and (ii) each such offense occurred on different dates, such person is guilty of a Class 3 felony.
(Top)A. Any person who solicits, invites, recruits, encourages, or otherwise causes or attempts to cause another to actively participate in or become a member of what he knows to be a criminal street gang is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. Any person age 18 years or older who solicits, invites, recruits, encourages, or otherwise causes or attempts to cause a juvenile to actively participate in or become a member of what he knows to be a criminal street gang is guilty of a Class 6 felony.
B. Any person who, in order to encourage an individual (a) to join a criminal street gang, (b) to remain as a participant in or a member of a criminal street gang, or (c) to submit to a demand made by a criminal street gang to commit a felony violation of this title, (i) uses force against the individual or a member of his family or household or (ii) threatens force against the individual or a member of his family or household, which threat would place any person in reasonable apprehension of death or bodily injury, is guilty of a Class 6 felony. The definition of "family or household member" set forth in Section 16.1-228 applies to this section.
(Top)A. The Board of Education shall develop model guidelines for local school boards to utilize when establishing requirements for pupils to wear uniforms. In developing these guidelines, the Board shall consider (i) ways to promote parental and community involvement, (ii) relevant state and federal constitutional concerns, such as freedom of religion and freedom of speech, and (iii) the ability of pupils to purchase such clothing.
B. Upon approval by the Board of the model guidelines, local school boards may establish requirements, consistent with the Board’s guidelines, for the students enrolled in any of their schools to wear uniforms while in attendance at such school during the regular school day. No state funds may be used for the purchase of school uniforms.
(Top) As used in this article unless the context requires otherwise or it is
otherwise provided:
"Act of violence" means those felony offenses described in Subsection A
of Section 19.2-297.1.
"Criminal street gang" means any ongoing organization, association, or
group of three or more persons, whether formal or informal, (i) which has as one
of its primary objectives or activities the commission of one or more criminal
activities; (ii) which has an identifiable name or identifying sign or symbol;
and (iii) whose members individually or collectively have engaged in the
commission of, attempt to commit, conspiracy to commit, or solicitation of two
or more predicate criminal acts, at least one of which is an act of violence,
provided such acts were not part of a common act or transaction.
"Predicate criminal act" means (i) an act of violence; (ii) any
violation of Section 18.2-42, 18.2-46.3, 18.2-51, 18.2-51.1, 18.2-52, 18.2-53,
18.2-55, 18.2-56.1, 18.2-57, 18.2-57.2, 18.2-59, 18.2-121, 18.2-127, 18.2-128,
18.2-137, 18.2-138, 18.2-146, 18.2-147, Subsection H, H1, or H2 of Section
18.2-248, Section 18.2-248.01, 18.2-255, 18.2-255.2, 18.2-286.1, 18.2-287.4, or
18.2-308.1; (iii) a second or subsequent felony violation of Subsection C of
Section 18.2-248 or of Section 18.2-248.1; (iv) any violation of a local
ordinance adopted pursuant to Section 15.2-1812.2; or (v) any substantially
similar offense under the laws of another state or territory of the United
States, the District of Columbia, or the United States.
The Director shall be the chief executive officer of the Department and shall have the following duties and powers:
6. To collect data pertaining to the demographic characteristics of adults, and juveniles who are adjudicated as adults, incarcerated in state correctional institutions, including, but not limited to, the race or ethnicity, age, and gender of such persons, whether they are members of a criminal gang, and the types of and extent to which health-related problems are prevalent among such persons. Beginning July 1, 1997, such data shall be collected, tabulated quarterly, and reported by the Director to the Governor and the General Assembly at each regular session of the General Assembly thereafter. The report shall be submitted as provided in the procedures of the Division of Legislative Automated Systems for the processing of legislative documents and reports;
8. To forward to the Commonwealth's Attorneys' Services Council, updated on a monthly basis, a list of all identified criminal gang members incarcerated in state correctional institutions. The list shall contain identifying information for each criminal gang member, as well as his criminal record.
(Top)Any person who violates Section 18.2-46.2 (i) upon the property, including buildings and grounds, of any public or private elementary, secondary, or postsecondary school, or any public or private two-year or four-year institution of higher education; (ii) upon public property or any property open to public use within 1,000 feet of such school property; or (iii) on any school bus as defined in Section 46.2-100 is guilty of a felony punishable as specified in Section 18.2-46.2, and shall be sentenced to a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of two years. A person who violates Subsection A of Section 18.2-46.3 upon any property listed in this section is guilty of a Class 6 felony, except that any person 18 years of age or older who violates Subsection A of Section 18.2-46.3 upon any property listed in this section, when such offense is committed against a juvenile, is guilty of a Class 5 felony. Any person who violates Subsection B of Section 18.2-46.3 upon any property listed in this section is guilty of a Class 5 felony. It is a violation of this section if the person violated Section 18.2-46.2 or 18.2-46.3 on the property described in clauses (i) through (iii) regardless of where the person intended to commit such violation.
(Top)A. Any locality may by ordinance make unlawful the willful and malicious damage to or defacement of any public buildings, facilities and personal property or of any private buildings, facilities, and personal property. The penalty for violation of such ordinance is a Class 1 misdemeanor. The punishment for any such violation in which the defacement is (i) more than 20 feet off the ground, (ii) on a railroad or highway overpass, or (iii) committed for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with any criminal street gang, as that term is defined by § 18.2-46.1, shall include a mandatory minimum fine of $ 500.
(Top)B. Prior to a transfer hearing pursuant to subsection A of Section 16.1-269.1, a study and report to the court, in writing, relevant to the factors set out in subdivision A 4 of Section 16.1-269.1, as well as an assessment of any affiliation with a youth gang as defined in Section 16.1-299.2, shall be made by the probation services or other qualified agency designated by the court. Counsel for the juvenile and the attorney for the Commonwealth shall have full access to the study and report and any other report or data concerning the juvenile which are available to the court. The court shall not consider the report until a finding has been made concerning probable cause. If the court so orders, the study and report may be expanded to include matters provided for in Section 16.1-273, whereupon it may also serve as the report required by this subsection, but on the condition that it will not be submitted to the judge who will preside at any subsequent hearings except as provided for by law.
C. After the completion of the hearing, whether or not the juvenile court decides to retain jurisdiction over the juvenile or transfer such juvenile for criminal proceedings in the circuit court, the juvenile court shall set bail for the juvenile in accordance with Chapter 9 (Section 19.2-119 et seq.) of Title 19.2, if bail has not already been set.
A. When a juvenile and domestic relations district court or circuit court has adjudicated any case involving a child subject to the jurisdiction of the court hereunder, except for a traffic violation, a violation of the game and fish law or a violation of any city ordinance regulating surfing or establishing curfew violations, the court before final disposition thereof may require an investigation, which (i) shall include a drug screening and (ii) may include the physical, mental and social conditions, including an assessment of any affiliation with a youth gang as defined in Section 16.1-299.2, and personality of the child and the facts and circumstances surrounding the violation of law. However, in the case of a juvenile adjudicated delinquent on the basis of an act committed on or after January 1, 2000, which would be a felony if committed by an adult, or a violation under Article 1 (Section 18.2-247 et seq.) or Article 1.1 (Section 18.2-265.1 et seq.) of Chapter 7 of Title 18.2 and such offense would be punishable as a Class 1 or Class 2 misdemeanor if committed by an adult, the court shall order the juvenile to undergo a drug screening. If the drug screening indicates that the juvenile has a substance abuse or dependence problem, an assessment shall be completed by a certified substance abuse counselor as defined in Section 54.1-3500 employed by the Department of Juvenile Justice or by a locally operated court services unit or by an agency employee under the direct supervision of such a counselor.
B. The court also shall, on motion of the attorney for the Commonwealth with the consent of the victim, or may in its discretion, require the preparation of a victim impact statement in accordance with the provisions of Section 19.2-299.1 if the court determines that the victim may have suffered significant physical, psychological or economic injury as a result of the violation of law.
When it is determined, either by admission or investigation, by a state or local law-enforcement agency or a regional multi-jurisdictional law-enforcement task force, that a juvenile who has been arrested is a member of a youth gang, the arresting officer shall enter the juvenile’s name and other appropriate gang-related information required by the Department of State Police into the Youth Gang File of the Virginia Crime Information Network. The entry shall be made as soon as practicable after the determination is made.
For purposes of this section "youth gang" means an ongoing organization, association or group
(i) having common characteristics, including but not limited to initiation practices, hand signals, structured style of dress, specific geographic territorial claim or identifiable leadership and
(ii) consisting of three or more individuals, at least one of whom is a juvenile, who identify themselves as a group by a name or symbol and are involved in a pattern of recurrent felonious criminal conduct.
A. The Director shall coordinate with the Department of Corrections the development and submission of requests for compensation from the United States Department of Justice State Criminal Alien Assistance Program for costs associated with incarcerating undocumented aliens.
B. The Director shall forward to the Commonwealth's Attorneys' Services Council, updated on a monthly basis, a list of all juveniles, 14 years of age or older, who (i) have been committed to the Department, (ii) have been found guilty of a felony offense defined as a predicate criminal act under § 18.2-46.1, or have been adjudicated delinquent on the basis of an act that would be a felony and a predicate criminal act under § 18.2-46.1 if committed by an adult, and (iii) have been identified as belonging to a criminal gang. The list shall contain identifying information for each gang member, as well as the offense, court, and date of conviction or adjudication.
(Top)Any person who shall knowingly erect, establish, continue, maintain, use, own, occupy, or lease any building, erection, place, or area used for the purpose of lewdness, assignation, prostitution, or activities of a criminal street gang, as criminal street gang is defined in § 18.2-46.1 in the Commonwealth is guilty of a nuisance, and the building, erection, place, or area, the ground itself, in or upon which such lewdness, assignation, prostitution, or criminal street gang activity is conducted, permitted, or carried on, continued, or exists, and the furniture, fixtures, musical instruments, and contents are also declared a nuisance, and shall be enjoined and abated as hereinafter provided.
Whenever a nuisance is kept, maintained, or exists as defined in § 48-7, the attorney for the Commonwealth or the Attorney General of the Commonwealth, or, with the exception of a suit brought against a criminal street gang as defined in § 18.2-46.1, any responsible citizen of the Commonwealth, may maintain a suit in equity in the name of the Commonwealth, upon the relation of such attorney for the Commonwealth, Attorney General, or citizen, to perpetually enjoin such nuisance, the person or persons conducting or maintaining the same, and the owner or agent of the building or ground upon which such nuisance exists. In such suit the court, or a judge in vacation, shall, upon the presentation of a bill therefor alleging that the nuisance complained of exists, and sworn to by two reputable citizens, allow a temporary writ of injunction, without bond, if it shall be made to appear to the satisfaction of the court or judge by evidence in the form of affidavits, depositions, oral testimony, or otherwise as the complainant may elect, that the nuisance complained of exists, unless the court or judge by previous order shall have directed the form and manner in which the evidence shall be presented. Three days' notice, in writing, shall be given the defendant of the hearing of the application, and if then continued at his instance the writ as prayed shall be granted as a matter of course. A suit brought to enjoin criminal street gang activity may be brought against the criminal street gang as defined in § 18.2-46.1, as an unincorporated association and in the name by which it is commonly known.
The suit when ready for hearing shall be tried at the first term of court, unless good cause for a continuance shall be shown, and in such suit oral evidence given in court of the general reputation of the place or criminal street gang as defined in § 18.2-46.1 shall be admissible for the purpose of proving or tending to prove the existence of such nuisance. If the complaint is filed by a citizen, it shall not be dismissed by him before final hearing, except upon a sworn statement made by the complainant and his attorney, setting forth the reasons why the action should be dismissed, and the dismissal approved by the attorney for the Commonwealth, or the Attorney General of the Commonwealth, in writing or in open court. In any case, if the court is of the opinion that the suit ought not to be dismissed, it may direct the attorney for the Commonwealth to prosecute it to judgment; and if the suit is continued more than one term of court, any citizen or the attorney for the Commonwealth may be substituted for the complaining party and prosecute such suit to judgment. If the suit is brought by a citizen, and the court finds there was no reasonable ground or cause for said suit, the costs may be taxed against such citizen.