COMMUNITY RESEARCH & ACTION

What Is Pi?Civil Injunctions as a Tool in the War on Gang Crime

2012 Caribbean Anti-Gang ConferenceSt. Thomas, USVI

Alvin L AtkinsonExecutive Director

The Center for Community SafetyJune 19, 2012

Training & Engagement

What Is Pi?Presentation Overview

Introduction About the Center for Community Safety

Civil Gang Injunctions as an Anti-Gang Strategy History The Theories behind CGI Requirements in Practice Let’s Look at California What Does the Research Say? Consideration and Consequences

Civil Gang Injunctions in the USVI

COMMUNITY RESEARCH & ACTION

Pi Needed & RelevantAbout The Center for Community Safety (CCS) Established in 2001 as a public service, research and training

center of WSSU

Involves action research to shape policy and action around significant community safety issues as prioritized by community partnerships

Promotes the use of data to develop and sustain police and community partnerships to create safer, more stable communities

National training partner for USDOJ for Weed and Seed and PSN with focus on reentry, juvenile gangs and crime and community engagement

Training & Engagement

What Is Pi?The CCS

Although our work is about measuring results, providing useful data and improving performance, our ultimate goal is improving lives

We believe this goal can only be achieved through a powerful combination of dispassionate analysis and passionate commitment to community-based problem solving efforts

COMMUNITY RESEARCH & ACTION

What Is Pi?

A gang can be sued in civil court when members have persistently engaged in a pattern of criminal and nuisance activities.

The lawsuit results in orders which prohibit gang members from engaging in specified activities that contribute to harm.

This typically includes associating with other gang members in public, trespassing on private property, possessing or being in the presence of weapons, and marking with graffiti in the safety zone.

After receiving notice, members who violate one of the provisions can be arrested and charged with violating a court order.

What is a Civil Gang Injunction?

COMMUNITY RESEARCH & ACTION

Pi Needed & RelevantHistory of Gang Injunctions Date back to 1980 in California; credited to Los Angeles City

Attorney’s Office in 1987

Moderate increase until mid 1990’s; accelerated growth rate afterwards

Mostly used in California; 11 jurisdictions and 7 states outside CA confirmed CGI use

Growth driven by media and anecdotal evidence of effectiveness;

few empirical evaluations due to variations in provisions and data

limitations

COMMUNITY RESEARCH & ACTION

What Is Pi?The Theories

Legal TheoryApplication of the “law of public nuisance”

Originally developed to address minor offenses

Applies equally to activities of criminal street gangs

General statutes adopted in most U.S. states

Broad and vague if defined at all

Either a common law or statutory cause of action Injury to or interference w/ rights common to public

COMMUNITY RESEARCH & ACTION

What Is Pi?The Theories (cont.)

Criminological TheorySocial Disorganization- Reducing the level of the immediate threat of the gang may lay a foundation for improving the quality of neighborhood life

Deterrence- Sure, swift, and severe sanctions will deter criminal behavior

Social PsychologicalGroup Identity causes individuals to feel less responsible for their behavior

COMMUNITY RESEARCH & ACTION

What Is Pi?Requirements in Practice

The gang must be creating a public nuisance

The gang must be responsible for activities that are continuous and ongoing

The gang must be impacting a defined geographic

area

The gang must have identifiable members

COMMUNITY RESEARCH & ACTION

What Is Pi?Requirements in Practice (cont.)

Notice of suit provided to individual gang members

Attempts must be made to serve all the gang

members

Injunction can only be enforced on members

served

Law enforcement agencies should request

injunction

COMMUNITY RESEARCH & ACTION

What Is Pi?A Look at California

Law considers criminal street gangs identifiable associations

Colors

Signs

Tattoos

Ability to stop association in defined geographical area

Aim is not to recover monies or compensation

Aim is to disrupt daily criminal activities

Remove ability to derive strength from association

COMMUNITY RESEARCH & ACTION

What Is Pi?A Look at California (cont.)o Curfewso Prohibitions

o Weapons

o Drugs

o Alcohol

o Graffiti (or Graffiti Tools)

o Forcible Recruitment of Gang Members

o Forcible Retention of Gang Members

COMMUNITY RESEARCH & ACTION

What Is Pi?Research Findings

Grogger (2002) (Los Angeles County)

Civil gang injunctions lead the rate of violent crimes to decrease by somewhere between1.5 and 3.0 crimes per quarter over 8 years of data (5% to 10% reduction)

In comparison with community policing, interagency cooperation and other place-based enforcement efforts the effects of the gang injunctions are relatively small

Research on cost effectiveness not available at this time.

COMMUNITY RESEARCH & ACTION

What Is Pi?Research Findings

Maxson, Hennigan, & Sloane (2005) (LA County) Civil gang injunctions may result in modest immediate

improvements in community safety and well-being.

Improvements may be greater if CGI is coupled with efforts to improve neighborhood socialization and provide positive alternatives to gang members

COMMUNITY RESEARCH & ACTION

What Is Pi?Potential Problems

Time intensive & difficult

Difficulty of repeal

Profiling

Disproportionate minority contact

COMMUNITY RESEARCH & ACTION

What Is Pi?Government of the Virgin Islands

14 V.I.C. § 1461  (2012) Public nuisance defined

Injurious to health, indecent, offensive to the senses or an obstruction to the free use of property, so as to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property by a considerable number of persons

- OR -

Unlawfully obstructs the customary free passage or use of any navigable lake, river, bay, stream, canal or basin, or any public park, square, street or highway--

Red X = BloodsBlue X = CripsGreen X = TrinatinosOnly Money Counts, OMC

St. Thomas

Red X = BloodsBlue X = CripsGolden X = Latin Kings

St. Croix

COMMUNITY RESEARCH & ACTION

What Is Pi?Civil Injunctions as a Tool in the War on Gang Crime

2012 Caribbean Anti-Gang ConferenceSt. Thomas, USVI

For More Information:

www.centerforcommunitysafety.org Email Address: atkinsona@wssu.edu