ABSTRACT
As gang crime continues across the country, police, prosecutors, and community members seek methods to reduce the spread of gang-related criminal activity. The use of civil gang injunctions has become a growing feature of crime control strategies across the nation. At the same time, these injunctions have also raised constitutional controversies over restrictions on speech and assembly. Despite the debate, the use of injunctions has consistently increased on an annual basis since they were first utilized. In 2010, the State of California surpassed the 150-gang-injunction plateau since they started to be implemented more than 25 years ago. One of the questions I wanted to answer in this book is: Do these civil remedies help curb gang violence in the communities in which they were implemented? In addition to understanding the impact or level of effectiveness, I also wanted to explore what makes any given injunction or abatement effort more or less effective, and what variables impact gang injunction effectiveness to help make future gang injunctions more effective. While the book speaks specifically about laws and issues in California and only a few other locations, lessons learned can be applicable in any other U.S. areas where the appropriate civil remedies and gang problems exist.
