St. Louis CofCC Blog

AP:

FORT WORTH, Texas - Fed up with deadly drive-by shootings, incessant drug dealing and graffiti, cities nationwide are trying a different tactic to combat gangs: They’re suing them.

Swift idea there — if criminal law didn’t stop them, then a civil lawsuit won’t do any better.

The injunctions prohibit gang members from associating with each other, carrying weapons, possessing drugs, committing crimes and displaying gang symbols in a safety zone — neighborhoods where suspected gang members live and are most active. Some injunctions set curfews for members and ban them from possessing alcohol in public areas — even if they’re of legal drinking age.

I thought the law prohibited gang members or anyone else from “carrying weapons” (notwithstanding CCW permits), “possessing drugs” and “committing crimes.” Usually, civil injunctions are designed to keep a person from doing what he legally could anyway to fit a particular purpose; it is illogical to get a civil injunction to order a person not to do what he legally can’t do anyway.

Those who disobey the order face a misdemeanor charge and up to a year in jail. Prosecutors say the possibility of a jail stay — however short — is a strong deterrent, even for gang members who’ve already served hard time for other crimes.

“Seven months in jail is a big penalty for sitting on the front porch or riding in the car with your gang buddies,” said Kinley Hegglund, senior assistant city attorney for Wichita Falls.

It seems contradictory that those who violate the terms of a civil lawsuit face jail time, but the angle here is that the violations of the injunctions is engaging in contempt of court.

But critics say such lawsuits go too far, limiting otherwise lawful activities and unfairly targeting minority youth.

“If you’re barring people from talking in the streets, it’s difficult to tell if they’re gang members or if they’re people discussing issues,” said Peter Bibring, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. “And it’s all the more troubling because it doesn’t seem to be effective.”

As stupid as I think lawsuits are as a tool to stop black and Hispanic drug gangs, the ACLU’s opposition is even more stupid. Any civil or criminal motions made against gangs will have the effect of “targeting minority youth,” because America’s drug gangs are overwhelmingly black and Hispanic. Also, I highly doubt that there is much in the way of public policy debate going on in the middle of the streets in gangland.