Activists Target Gang Injunctions in Los Angeles Area
Do they even work or are they just excuses to harass young minorities?
More than 30 years since court injunctions were first imposed in Los Angeles County to radically alter the behavior of gang members, a grass-roots effort is building to challenge the sweeping restrictions as a violation of basic civil liberties.
In communities besieged by gang crime, resistance to the civil injunctions rarely surfaced in years past. Police and prosecutors would insist the court orders were necessary to disrupt the activities of those identified as gang members, and the injunctions were routinely granted by judges for specified areas.
By prohibiting targeted members from associating with each other, owning cellphones, staying out pass curfew and the like, police could then wield a powerful weapon in their efforts to combat violence and drug dealing on gang turf.
(Hat tip to Playa Manhattan)
Hide Comments (0)
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post commentsMute this user?
Ban this user?
Un-ban this user?
Nuke this user?
Un-nuke this user?
Flag this comment?
Un-flag this comment?