Gang Injunctions and Abatement: Using Civil Remedies to Curb Gang-Related Crimes

As gang violence continues to rise across the country and the world, police departments, prosecutors, and community members are seeking new methods to reduce the spread of gang-related criminal activity. Civil gang injunctions have become a growing feature of crime control programs in several states across the nation. Gang Injunctions and Abatement: Using Civil Remedies to Curb Gang-Related Crimes examines the effectiveness of this strategy and explores the accompanying constitutional controversies related to freedom of speech, assembly, and other rights.

Questions raised by this thought-provoking volume include:

• What are the costs of gang violence to society?
• Do civil remedies curb violence in the communities where they are implemented?
• What factors make a given injunction or abatement more or less effective?
• What legal and policy issues stand in the way of gang injunctions and abatement?

Providing step-by-step instructions on how to establish a successful injunction and abatement program, the book presents comprehensive research on the theoretical basis for the strategy. It includes a legal and chronological progression of actual cases and their outcomes, describing weaknesses and successes in various programs. Supplying succinct guidelines from lessons learned, the book enables prosecutors, police agencies, and the public to take steps toward eradicating gang activities in their communities.

Introduction
Steps 1 to 5 of the Injunction Process
Steps 6 to 10 of the Injunction Process
Literature and Policy
Gang Injunction and Gang Abatement Theory
Legal Criticism of Gang Injunctions
Research Methodology
Results of 25 Injunction Studies
Police Officers from 25 Gang Injunction Areas Surveyed
Research and Conclusions about Effectiveness
Year 1982
Gang Injunctions 1990-1999
Gang Injunctions 2000-2009
Year 2010
Gang Injunctions Outside California
How Many Gangs, Gang Members, and Gang Injunctions Are There?
Gang Injunctions, Gang Abatement, and the Law
Gang Abatement Program Elements
Graffiti Abatement
Private Property Owners' Role and Liability, CPTED, and Crime-Free Multihousing