A criminal defendant’s membership to a criminal street gang is a key component of motivation to commit an alleged crime. Many states have Gang Enhancement laws that enhance the sentence of a defendant if the trier of fact finds the defendant acted on behalf of their criminal street gang membership. In other instances, the tier of fact may need to be educated on the motive, means, and opportunity the defendant had to commit the alleged crime due to their gang membership, in order to find them guilty of the underlying crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Taking time to highlight critical gang characteristics, behavior, and identifiers that street gangs across the country have in common with your defendant’s gang, will be a key component the trier of fact will need to be educated on. The intent of this course is to prepare investigators on the steps needed to organize their gang investigation evidence for criminal prosecution, convince a judge to qualify them as a gang expert, and how to properly present their gang evidence in the courtroom while navigating the rules of evidence. This course will provide the investigator and pros. Prosecuting attorney step-by-step examples on how to describe the defendant’s street gang racketeering activity while displaying evidence exhibits that validate the existence of the criminal enterprise.

Upon successful completion of the course, students will have gained knowledge in:

How to present yourself as a gang expert in court.

• Required evidence you will need to produce for gang prosecution cases. 
• Introduction of your gang investigation experience to the judge.
• How to describe general gang characteristics in the courtroom.
• Presentation of Exhibits of physical gang evidence & Rules of Evidence.
• How to describe a racketeering activity timeline for the defendant and their gang.