1. COMMUNITY RESEARCH & ACTION What Is Pi? Civil Injunctions as a Tool in the War on Gang Crime 2012 Caribbean Anti-Gang Conference St. Thomas, USVI Alvin L Atkinson Executive Director The Center for Community Safety June 19, 2012

2. 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

3. COMMUNITY RESEARCH & ACTION Pi Needed & Relevant About 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

4. 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

5. 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?

6. COMMUNITY RESEARCH & ACTION Pi Needed & Relevant History 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

7. COMMUNITY RESEARCH & ACTION What Is Pi? The Theories Legal Theory  Application 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

8. COMMUNITY RESEARCH & ACTION What Is Pi? The Theories (cont.) Criminological Theory  Social 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 Psychological  Group Identity causes individuals to feel less responsible for their behavior

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. COMMUNITY RESEARCH & ACTION What Is Pi? A Look at California (cont.) o Curfews o Prohibitions o Weapons o Drugs o Alcohol o Graffiti (or Graffiti Tools) o Forcible Recruitment of Gang Members o Forcible Retention of Gang Members

13. 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.

14. 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

15. COMMUNITY RESEARCH & ACTION What Is Pi? Potential Problems  Time intensive & difficult  Difficulty of repeal  Profiling  Disproportionate minority contact

16. 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--

17. Red X = Bloods Blue X = Crips Green X = Trinatinos Only Money Counts, OMC St. Thomas

18. Red X = Bloods Blue X = Crips Golden X = Latin Kings St. Croix

19. COMMUNITY RESEARCH & ACTION What Is Pi? Civil Injunctions as a Tool in the War on Gang Crime 2012 Caribbean Anti-Gang Conference St. Thomas, USVI For More Information: www.centerforcommunitysafety.org Email Address: atkinsona@wssu.eduatkinsona@wssu.edu