Supreme Court looks to new ways to curb gangs

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court, warned by cities that street gang warfare is mounting across the United States, agreed yesterday to weigh local governments' power to use anti-loitering laws to break up gatherings of suspected gang members.

Frustrated by difficulty in catching gangs committing crimes, city officials backed by police departments are pressing the notion that curbs on loitering can at least disperse gangs when they take over streets as their "turf." Anti-loitering laws, however, have often been struck down - in the Supreme Court, as well as in lower courts. But the city of Chicago persuaded the justices yesterday to rethink the constitutionality of such ordinances.

Justice Department figures show there are 23,000 youth gangs in the United States, with more than 650,000 members. Chicago alone has 125 street gangs; just four of those gangs are so powerful that they include more than half the city's gang members and have established ties to gangs in 35 other states.

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