Can't Beat Gangs? Sue 'em.

by Matt Kelley · 2009-01-26 16:03:00 UTC
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The Los Angeles Police Department announced last week the first "success" of a new strategy the department is employing against gangs. Suing them. The Christian Science Monitor has the story.

The LAPD won a $5 million judgement in civil court against a gang it says has ruled the downtown heroin trade for years. And a new suit against the 18th Street gang is seeking to go even further by claiming the personal assets of gang members. Both suits were filed under new state amendments passed in the last two years, and they seem to follow the pattern of tactics used in the past against white supremacist groups and the Mafia.

"We're sending a message to gang leaders across this city," said City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo at a press conference last month. "If you break the law, we will not only find you, arrest you, and put you behind bars, we will also take away your money, your property, your homes, and your cars. Every penny we strip away will be returned to the neighborhoods."

But not everyone is on board with the new tactic. It could cast too wide a net and violate the civil liberties of LA residents, says Earl Ofari Hutchinson of the LA Urban Policy Roundtable.

"Gang injunctions are showy, quick-fix, politically-motivated PR gimmicks that do nothing to reduce gang violence," says Hutchinson.

Guilt by association, he says, ensures criminalization of "countless numbers of young blacks and Latinos who are not gang members."

Matt Kelley is the Online Communications Manager at the Innocence Project and a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Follow him on Twitter @mattjkelley.
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