Criminalizing Day-to-Day Life: A Socio-Legal Critique of Gang Injunctions

Abstract:     
Civil gang injunctions criminalize a wide range of day-to-day activities, such as riding bicycles or appearing in public view with others subject to an injunction. In practice, gang injunctions severely limit people's rights. However, the California Supreme Court has found that injunctions do not violate the United States Constitution. Their reasoning is based on misconceptions about the impacts of injunctions on people's lives and, in turn, their liberty interests. This article incorporates social science theory about gang involvement with narrative examples demonstrating the extent to which gang injunctions burden people's liberty interests to highlight unconstitutional aspects of gang injunctions.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 50

Keywords: gang injunction, multiple marginality theory, gang

Accepted Paper Series