Is Forming a Gang in Nevada a Crime?

To directly respond to the question, the answer is it depends: forming a gang in Nevada is not in itself a crime, but forming a gang to do criminal acts and doing crime on behalf of the gang is. Moreover, there are many types of gangs in Nevada, and there is no way for the authorities to catch a gang in the act of forming the organization. If the authorities can control the formation of a gang, then the number of existing gangs in Nevada should be low-to-none. The simplest evidence lies in the fact that there approximately 20,000 street gang members in Las Vegas alone as of 2015. These gangs include white supremacist gangs, black gangs, Latino gangs, and Asian gangs. Sadly, most of these gangs qualify as criminal gangs and are actively performing gang crimes.

What is a criminal gang?

The federal laws and Nevada laws have different grounds for an organization to qualify as a criminal gang. The legal definition of a criminal gang under federal are is a group of five or more people that meet the following conditions:

• One of the group's primary purposes is to commit either (a) federal drug felonies that carry prison sentences of at least five years, or (b) federal violent felonies that involve the use of force against someone else;
• He group's members have engaged in a continuing series of drug or violent felonies in the last five years; and
• The group's activities affect interstate or foreign commerce

Note that if a gang has less than five members, has no criminal record in the past, and is not performing any violent or drug crime, then it cannot be considered as a criminal gang—it is, plainly and simply, just a regular street gang. So how about Nevada? The Nevada Revised Statutes define criminal gang as an organization which:

• Has a common name or identifying symbol,
• Has particular conduct, status, and customs indicative of it, and
• Has as one of its common activities engaging in criminal activity punishable as a felony.

Defenses and penalties for criminal gangs

Defenses and penalties for criminal gangs or gang members depend on the circumstances and pieces of evidence surrounding the case. Factors that need to be taken into consideration include questions “is the crime or felony committed by the gang (or gang member) a violation of the federal law or the state law?” and “did the defendant commit the felony on behalf of his/her gang?” If a defendant knowingly committed the crime on behalf or for the benefit of the gang s/he belongs to, an additional of one to 20 prison years may be imposed on his/her sentence as per the gang crime enhancement law.