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2 Stan. J. C.R. & C.L. 115 (2005-2006)
The Constitutional Failure of Gang Databases

handle is hein.journals/stjcrcl2 and id is 125 raw text is: ARTICLE THE CONSTITUTIONAL FAILURE OF GANG DATABASES Joshua D. Wright* Law enforcement agencies increasingly utilize databases, such as California's Calgang system, to facilitate data sharing and prosecution of criminal defendants in gang-related cases. Suspected gang members typically enter the database through documentation, a highly subjective process resulting in serious legal and social consequences such as increased probability of conviction, longer sentences, loss of employment, and other stigmatizing effects. An examination of the documentation process reveals serious defects above and beyond the subjective nature of documentation criteria. Research strongly suggests that documentation procedures suffer from a general lack of quality control and oversight in maintaining the database, causing frequently erroneous documentation. Erroneously documented persons are left without recourse and can be left in the database for their entire lifetime whether or not they are involved in a gang because the responsible agencies systematically fail to adhere to policies requiring names to be purged after specified amounts of time without criminal or gang activity. These features of gang databases raise serious due process questions. In this article, 1 assert that documentation without a hearing violates the procedural due process guarantees of the Constitution. A hearing requirement would not only immunize documentation practices from constitutional challenges by allowing input from the affected parties, but would also increase database accuracy, thereby improving the efficacy of databases as a tool in policing and prosecuting gang crime. * Assistant Professor, George Mason University School of Law. J.D. UCLA School of Law; Ph.D. UCLA Department of Economics. I thank Charles Katz for valuable comments on a previous draft. I both owe and dedicate this article to Jerome Silvels and his family. Please do not cite or quote without the author's permission.

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