Many crimes carry the opportunity for penalty enhancements, such as identity theft carrying an additional charging enhancement where the circumstances were aggravated. At times, these penalties seem outwardly to be beneficial, for example, where the charges are brought against an elderly or at-risk individual. Separately, the argument has been made that penalties for gang-related activity might stem from underlying socioeconomic disparities and can further exacerbate those conditions.
Taking into consideration that prosecutors can levy gang-related enhancements as part of charging, would it be ethically and legally appropriate to ensure that comparable legislation enhances charging against law enforcement officers, prosecutors, judges, etc. when they violate the law? If so, should those charge enhancements be aligned to the level of responsibility of the offender, e.g. clerk of the courts +2 years, lawyer +5, judge +10, etc.?
Links you should use and cite:
https://legal-info.lawyers.com/criminal/criminal-law-basics/sentence-enhancements-mean-harder-punishments.html
https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/penalty-enhancement-hate-crimes-editors-introduction
https://www.npr.org/2022/11/21/1138155074/colorado-springs-shooting-lgbtq-hate-crime-laws
https://www.wklaw.com/practice-areas/gang-affiliation-sentence-enhancement-pc-186-22/
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