Controversy surrounding the constitutionality of using civil junctions against gangs - Research Paper Example

Law enforcement department simply requires to present concrete and enough evidence associating the person to the named gang. The law enforcement agency should provide the identity of people they hang out with, the color of clothes they wear and the tattoos on their body. Due to this, gang injunctions in the US have elicited a heated debate and controversy. Civil rights lobbyists argue that the strategy and the system is not effective and that it violates human rights. They assert that it is unconstitutionally wrong to allow gangs to operate legally.

This according to the civil rights movement motivates racial profiling and suppressive policing. Further, they assert that it criminalizes young individuals who may never have done or committed some crimes (O'Deane 48). Wearing wrong colors or a minor mistake or being spotted conversing with a known gang member can be sufficient to get you listed as a gang member. Once an individual is on the list, it is difficult to get a job and difficult to escape the area that funnels you into a gang. Law enforcement agents have used injunctions for a long time in fighting gang violence in California.

It was first used in Los Angeles in the 1980s; the strategy has proved ineffective in fighting gang violence. . Supporters of gang injunctions have asserted that the various limitations and threat of penalties act as a deterrent to criminal activities. Nevertheless, in case the reason injunctions are successful has nothing to do with the penalties and limitations that draw the attention of civil rights lawyers. The answer centers on what happens to the gang members when police officers give them evidence they possess of their criminal activities.

Traditionally, police officers conceal the information before letting the case to proceed to trial. The law enforcers assume that informing the criminals or gang members about the evidence they have collected against them only assists them defend themselves during trial. However, the success of the gang injunctions is psychological in that by informing the criminals know that they are being monitored, they eventually change and modify their actions and behaviors (Grogger 77). Civil gang injunctions emerged out of extreme anxiety.

In the early 190s, the Los Angeles law enforcers were finding it to control and manage the gangs and these gangs were almost taking control of the city. Assault, homicide, and robbery rates were increasing rapidly. The drug business seemed to be increasing. The gang fights and shooting happened in daylight in public areas. Due to these heinous and criminal activities, gang injunctions were introduced as a strategy for the law enforcement agencies to control the gang activities in the city. Police officers and other law enforcers got a civil court injunction forbidding gang activity in some cities such as Pomona, West Covina, and Santa Ana in Los Angeles.

The civil injunctions saw police officers address gang members as a group