Civil Gang Abatement: The Effectiveness and Implications of Policing by Injunction (Criminal Justice)

Civil gang abatement is an innovative remedy employing civil injunctions to combat public nuisance activity by gangs. This strategy has been promoted as a problem-oriented response to gang problems. Allan examines whether the process of acquiring a "gang injunction" incorporates the primary dimensions of problem-oriented responses: flexibility and community involvement. Flexibility is evident in the even distribution of initiatives among three categories: high-drug, high-crime, and high-disorder. Evidence of community involvement is weak, due to the lack of community organizations in gang-plagued neighborhoods, the low-profile nature of the initiatives, and the potential for retaliation against participants. Although the expectation for community involvement in gang injunction initiatives should be tempered, civil gang abatement is an appropriate approach to neighborhood gang problems.