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.

Matthew O’Deane has been a California police officer since 1992. Over half of that time, he has been tasked with targeting gangs. He worked for the National City Police department for ten years before moving to the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office as an Investigator in the Bureau of Investigation where he investigates gangs on a daily basis. He earned a Ph.D. in public policy, master’s degree in public administration, and bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. Dr. O’Deane is a professor for the University of Phoenix, Kaplan, and National Universities. He is a featured presenter at national and international law enforcement and academic conferences and he is a contributing author to several law enforcement magazines and journals.

IntroductionSteps 1 to 5 of the Injunction ProcessSteps 6 to 10 of the Injunction ProcessLiterature and PolicyGang Injunction and Gang Abatement TheoryLegal Criticism of Gang InjunctionsResearch MethodologyResults of 25 Injunction StudiesPolice Officers from 25 Gang Injunction Areas SurveyedResearch and Conclusions about EffectivenessYear 1982Gang Injunctions 1990–1999Gang Injunctions 2000–2009Year 2010Gang Injunctions Outside CaliforniaHow Many Gangs, Gang Members, and Gang Injunctions Are There?Gang Injunctions, Gang Abatement, and the LawGang Abatement Program ElementsGraffiti AbatementPrivate Property Owners’ Role and Liability, CPTED, and Crime-Free Multihousing