MR. GONZALES'S GANG WARFARE

AS HE TRAVELS around the country meeting with prosecutors and police,
Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales has been told repeatedly that street
gangs constitute one of the two most vexing challenges facing law
enforcement officials; the other is the rising use of the drug
methamphetamine. It's good that the menace posed by violent gangs in
American cities and suburbs has made an impression on Mr. Gonzales,
although he appears utterly perplexed as to the genesis of the problem.
Gangs have taken hold "not just in the Hispanic community but also in the
African American community," he told a group of Post writers and editors on
Monday. "I don't know why that's the case." He promised to think about it
and get back to us.

Whatever his puzzlement over the attraction of gangs to some youths, the
attorney general's instincts on how to address it seem basically sound --
sounder, perhaps, than those of the administration he serves.

While Mr. Gonzales's day job requires him to concentrate on clamping down
on gangs through law enforcement, he acknowledges that investigations and
prosecutions are only a partial answer.

A comprehensive strategy, he believes, must include education, prevention
and rehabilitation. "I don't want Hispanic kids to not go to school and not
get an education," he said. "Sure, we may be able to prosecute them and put
them in jail, but that represents a lost future as employees, as future
leaders in our community. We can't afford it."

Nonetheless, a bill backed by the Bush administration and already passed by
the House would unwisely federalize many local street crimes, stripping
them from state prosecution if they could be tied even tenuously to gang
activity. The so-called gangbusters bill would also establish mandatory
minimum sentencing requirements, which remove much flexibility from
sentencing and make little allowance for the circumstances of individual
defendants; similar federal and state schemes have proved unfair and harmful.

Gang violence is a serious threat to the communities where it has taken
hold, and in some cases it merits tough treatment by the criminal justice
system. But Mr. Gonzales is justified in his apparent unease about locking
up gang members and throwing away the keys. President Bush has proposed
spending $150 million over three years to prevent gang involvement, with
the funds to be dispersed through grants to faith-based and community
organizations that attempt to steer at-risk youths away from gangs and into
supportive social programs.

The House and Senate have each cut that request but appear likely to
appropriate some funds.

The success of that program, not just draconian sentencing or increased
numbers of federal investigations and prosecutions, will be a critical test
of whether the administration's commitment to combating gangs is real or
just a rhetorical priority.