Ninth Circuit Strikes Blow Against Orange County Gang Injunction Law

The Associated Press reports:

A federal appeals court on Tuesday struck a blow against widely used gang injunctions, ruling that a sweeping Orange County ban cannot be applied to dozens of people because it gave them no way to challenge claims that they were gang members.

The 9th U.S Circuit Court of Appeals said the 2009 injunction granted by a state court against alleged members or associates of the Orange Varrio Cypress gang was extraordinarily broad, impinging on constitutional liberties and everyday activities, and that there was a “considerable” risk of error in identifying alleged gang members.

“The OCDA and other law enforcement agencies can no longer go behind closed doors and unilaterally decide who is a gang member,” said Belinda Escobosa Helzer, director of the Orange County office of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, which filed a lawsuit over the injunction.

A call to the county district attorney’s office was not immediately returned after hours Tuesday.

Gang injunctions have been used in California since at least 1987 to curb street gang activities by obtaining public nuisance injunctions that prevent reputed gang members from various activities in their gang territories, ranging from drug-dealing and shootings to simply gathering together.

The use of gang injunctions has proliferated across the nation and even overseas.

Advocates argue that the injunctions have reduced gang crime while opponents say they cast too wide a net and unfairly brand young men as gang members without due process. . . .