The (San Diego) Union-Tribune reports that it is getting harder to figure out whether a suspect is a member of a real gang:
Some experts say law enforcement officials face a growing risk of misidentifying people as gang members as aspects of gang culture move into the mainstream. Misidentification can have serious consequences in court, where gang-related crimes can carry stiffer sentences, and on the streets, where imitators could have violent encounters with actual gang members.
"Kids act like gangsters who aren't gangsters," said Al Valdez, a sociology professor at the University of California Irvine who specializes in the history and culture of gangs.
Valdez testified recently as an expert witness in a high-profile San Diego Superior Court case.
"Kids mimic what they see," he said. "You see kids flashing gang signs, using words once only associated with gangs. I see that all the time."
Some defense lawyers say individuals are often branded as gang members undeservedly, because of the clothes they wear or the neighborhoods where they live.
