Legislature approves anticrime measure

Massachusetts lawmakers broke months of legislative gridlock yesterday and passed a sweeping anticrime bill that would create an extensive state witness-protection program and toughen penalties for several tactics that street gangs use to spread fear and violence.

The bill would provide $1.5 million for a state witness-protection program that would allow police protection, new housing, and relocation for witnesses who are determined to be vulnerable to reprisal.

Currently, individual district attorneys pay to protect witnesses from their own, often-strained budgets.

The bill would also toughen penalties for witness intimidation, create a new crime for leaking grand jury testimony to thwart court proceedings, make it illegal to share guns used in crimes, and make it easier to prosecute perjury in violent crime cases.

The legislation was approved against a backdrop of heightened street violence in Boston and other cities, with homicides increasing, gang activity proliferating, and a street ethic against helping police or testifying in court.

Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley estimated that witness intimidation occurs in up to 90 percent of gang-related prosecutions, a trend underscored recently by sales of ''Stop Snitchin' " T-shirts, which were seen in some courtrooms and which drew the ire of Mayor Thomas M. Menino.

''That intimidation makes it very difficult for prosecutors to hold the guilty accountable," said Conley, who lobbied strenuously for the bill.

Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey signaled in an interview yesterday that Governor Mitt Romney would sign the bill within the 10-day deadline provided by law.

''This is an issue I care deeply about and I've been working hard to facilitate, and I expect that soon we will have a law in place to better protect witnesses and victims of gang violence," she said.

Romney issued a statement saying: ''Gang violence destroys the fabric of our communities and offers nothing but a dead end street to young people drawn in by false hope. . . . I look forward to reviewing the final bill."

The bill's passage was greeted with relief and hope by neighborhood activists and police officials, who have raised alarm that some poor neighborhoods are sliding toward levels of violence not seen since the early 1990s.

''I think it sends a strong message that witness intimidation won't be tolerated," Police Commissioner Kathleen M. O'Toole said in an interview. ''There's no question that if more witnesses come forward, we'll solve more homicides," O'Toole said. ''Finally, we have resources to help protect those witnesses."

The bill had been stalled on Beacon Hill for more than a year, as lawmakers tried to balance the crime-fighting needs of prosecutors with the concerns of civil liberties groups and defense lawyers, according to lawmakers.

In recent weeks, lawmakers hit an impasse over funding for the witness-protection program. The Senate pushed for $2 million, but the House sought $750,000.

The compromise, hashed out this week, allocates $500,000 to be spent between the bill's signing date and June 30, and $1 million for fiscal year 2007.

The $1.5 million funding level roughly matches the amount per person set aside in other states with similar programs, the bill's sponsors said.

A state witness-protection board -- made up of top local police officials, prosecutors, and state public safety officials -- would distribute the funds to prosecutors on a case-by-case basis.

State Senator Jarrett T. Barrios, a Cambridge Democrat and a lead sponsor of the bill, said that lawmakers were spurred to reach a deal by a sense that the public was growing increasingly concerned about street violence.

''Increases in gang-related violence, high-profile murders connected to gangs -- it gets people's attention," he said. ''Many of us have seen surges in organized crime and violence in our neighborhoods and constituencies."

The bill's other primary sponsor, state Representative Stephen R. Canessa, a New Bedford Democrat, said lawmakers concluded they needed to act. ''The quicker we get it done, the more loss of lives we can prevent," he said.

Nowhere was the toll of violence more evident than the streets of Boston, where the homicide count last year increased 17 percent to 75, a 10-year high.

All shootings, both fatal and nonfatal, rose 28 percent last year, and the trend has worsened considerably so far this year.

Boston police have made an arrest, issued an arrest warrant, or identified a suspect in less than 30 percent of last year's 75 homicides.

In the vast majority of shooting cases, police did not arrest or identify a suspect, according to Boston police data.

''We can't have people who willingly shoot and kill people walk around in our neighborhoods and expect our neighborhoods to remain whole and complete," said the Rev. Jeffrey Brown, an anticrime activist and pastor of Union Baptist Church in Cambridge.

''Unresolved homicides tear families apart," he said.

The bill targets in particular two strategies some gang members and violent criminals use to escape justice.

Accused gang members leak witness names to their associates using grand jury transcripts, given to them by defense lawyers in the normal course of criminal cases, according to law enforcement officials. The bill makes this a crime, punishable by up to five years in prison.

Another common gang tactic, say authorities, is the use of ''community" guns, shared weapons used for crimes and then returned to a hiding place. The bill would punish this with a mandatory two years in prison and $500 fine.

The bill would also ease the standard for perjury in cases of violent crime. Prosecutors would not have to establish intent, but rather show that someone lied under oath, a standard harder for defense lawyers to challenge.

Emmett Folgert, director of the Dorchester Youth Collaborative, a nonprofit organization that tries to keep at-risk youth out of gangs, said the bill is critical in the face of rising violence.

''This bill will save lives," Folgert said. ''On the front lines, we're having a great deal of difficulty getting kids to testify, even when they're victims of a crime. They're afraid. . . .

''You'll have a 14-year-old kid who won't go across the street to McDonald's unless a friend goes with them," he said. ''That's new, that's different."

Raja Mishra can be reached at rmishra@globe.com; Suzanne Smalley at ssmalley@globe.com.