{"id":311744,"date":"2026-06-18T13:26:53","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T13:26:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/311744\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T13:26:53","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T13:26:53","slug":"are-you-a-gang-member-this-new-florida-law-expands-what-it-means","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/311744\/","title":{"rendered":"Are you a \u2018gang member?\u2019 This new Florida law expands what it means"},"content":{"rendered":"

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. \u2013 A new Florida bill was signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis<\/a> this week, and it aims to bring a new meaning to what constitutes a \u201cgang member.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bill \u2014 HB 429<\/a> \u2014 was originally filed all the way back in November, and it amends an existing law<\/a> that defines what it means to be a \u201ccriminal gang member.\u201d<\/p>\n

Current law says that a criminal gang member is someone who meets at least two of the following 11 criteria:<\/p>\n

Admits to criminal gang membership<\/p>\n

Is identified as a criminal gang member by a parent or guardian<\/p>\n

Is identified as a criminal gang member by a documented, reliable informant<\/p>\n

Adopts the style of dress of a criminal gang<\/p>\n

Adopts the use of a hand sign identified as used by a criminal gang<\/p>\n

Has a tattoo identified as used by a criminal gang<\/p>\n

Associates with one or more known criminal gang members<\/p>\n

Is identified as a criminal gang member by an informant of a previously untested reliability and such identification is corroborated by independent information<\/p>\n

Is identified as a criminal gang member by physical evidence<\/p>\n

Has been seen with one or more known criminal gang members at least four times<\/p>\n

Has authored any communication indicating responsibility for the commission of any crime by the criminal gang<\/p>\n

[RELATED: Florida Gov. DeSantis signs new crime laws in Winter Haven]<\/p>\n

But under SB 536, the following criteria would also be added to that list:<\/p>\n

Admits in person or online that he\/she is a criminal gang member<\/p>\n

Is identified or claimed by a criminal gang as one of its members<\/p>\n

Is identified as a criminal gang member by a spouse living with the person<\/p>\n

Has been seen with one or more known criminal gang members at least two times<\/p>\n

Has authored any communication indicating gang affiliation or activity, or accepted responsibility for the commission of any crime by a criminal gang member<\/p>\n

Uses gang-related language in furtherance of criminal gang-related activity online<\/p>\n

The legislation comes after Polk County deputies arrested five robbery suspects last year<\/a>, who were later linked to the Venezuelan gang Tren De Aragua.<\/p>\n

Alexis Jose Rodriguez-Benavides, Darwins Smith Vasquez Leon, ldemaro Miguel Escalona Mendoza, Ramon Jesus Carpintero-Luna, Samuel Oglis David Anthony Charle. (Polk County Sheriff’s Office)<\/p>\n

Florida law holds enhanced penalties<\/a> for crimes committed for the benefit of criminal gangs and their interests, meaning that crimes committed by gang members may result in even harsher sentences.<\/p>\n

That said, the current rules don\u2019t actually prohibit people from joining gangs, and this law doesn\u2019t change that fact.<\/p>\n

That said, state Sen. Jonathan Martin \u2014 who filed a similar bill \u2014 argued earlier this year that such legislation is necessary to keep up with evolving trends.<\/p>\n

\u201cGangs today look a lot different from 20 years ago,\u201d he stated during a committee meeting<\/a> in March. \u201cModern gangs operate through social media, encrypted messaging, and online recruitment. Gangs no longer use traditional markers: colors, hand signals, fixed territories like certain street corners.\u201d<\/p>\n

HB 429 is now set to take effect on Oct. 1. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, you can find a full list of the new laws approved so far in 2026 here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Breaking News Alerts<\/p>\n

Get breaking news alerts delivered to your inbox.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TALLAHASSEE, Fla. \u2013 A new Florida bill was signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis this week, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":311745,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[265,28,30,100,29,99,412,232,4443],"class_list":["post-311744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-crime","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-legislature","tag-florida-news","tag-politics","tag-ron-desantis","tag-tallahassee","tag-tech"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}