In the experience of the West Valley City Prosecutor's Office, for every one misguided youth creating something with any artistic merit, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of acts of graffiti that are committed with a more devious purpose: the marking of gang territory and communication with rival gangs.

These "taggings" advertise the presence of gangs in the areas "tagged" and mark the geographic boundaries of rival gangs, the same boundaries that are enforced in our communities by acts of violence, for instance, drive-by shootings.

Furthermore, the gang members responsible for these acts are members of the same gangs that are responsible for some of the worst crimes in our society, offenses that have greatly affected our communities very recently in the forms of armed robbery, home-invasion burglary, automobile theft, drive-by shootings and homicide.

Another thing that may surprise the community: Graffiti offenses are almost never prosecuted. The vast majority of graffiti are not large artistic murals created with care, but simple gang taggings. The offenses are committed at night when detection is difficult and completed in a matter of seconds.

Offenders are rarely caught red-handed, and when they are, they are usually subject to a small fine consistent with a misdemeanor offense. Consequently, any real deterrent effect is rare.

The Salt Lake City Police Department and Salt Lake County Attorney's Office should be commended, not criticized, for proactively charging and creatively prosecuting gang members who commit more than $1,000 in total property damage with a felony.

The more serious charge will give prosecutors and the courts greater flexibility to effectively suppress gang activity. It gives judges the ability to require formal supervision by Adult Probation and Parole. It strengthens the court's ability to require and enforce "gang clauses" which restrict continued gang activity.

It provides a greater incentive for gang members to leave these violent groups and motivates these defendants to enroll in gang suppression programs such as one administered in West Valley City, called Project 180.

West Valley City has also attempted to be proactive and creative in its efforts at gang suppression. In 2007, West Valley City prosecuted what we believe to be the first graffiti conviction obtained without witnesses who caught the offenders in the act.

Instead, the jury relied on testimony offered by certified gang experts from the West Valley City Police Department to identify the offender based entirely on his "moniker"; in other words, the signature the gang member leaves on his graffiti. The court placed this defendant on probation and required him to pay $2,783 in restitution for the damage to the buildings in our city.

As we often see in gang cases, he has since violated his probation by being arrested for more serious offenses including possessing drugs and weapons, and most recently for robbery. His probation was subsequently revoked and he is now serving more than a year in jail for his probation violations as well as for convictions on his more recent cases.

Citizens should be educated that most of the graffiti they encounter in their community are gang-related and symptomatic of the more serious gang violence problems we are currently facing.

Aggressive, proactive and creative enforcement and prosecution of graffiti offenders is one effective tool in suppressing Utah's larger problem of gang violence.

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* RYAN ROBINSON is the chief prosecuting attorney for West Valley City.