Doctoral Dissertation Research: A Political Geography of Civil Abatement and Gang Injunction Strategies in Los Angeles County

University Of Southern California, Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Abstract

Civil gang injunctions (CGI) are spatially based crime abatement strategies designed to curtail and reduce the activities of selected gangs in specific places through the use of restraining orders against named gangs and gang members. Since 1987, CGI efforts have been heralded as successful methods to combat criminal activity and to wrest away the control that gangs have had over communities, but very little research has been conducted on CGIs. Debates surrounding CGIs have focused on civil liberties and on how restricting non-criminal activities may infringe on constitutional rights, but other pertinent questions regarding CGIs have been overshadowed. This doctoral dissertation research project will develop a conceptual model of CGI spatial targeting decisions and model the crime displacement effects created by this suppression tactic. Using Los Angeles County, California, as the empirical setting for analysis, the project will examine how certain gangs are selected for a CGI and how particular geographic locations are singled out for a CGI implementation effort. About 1,000 gangs operate in Los Angeles County, but only a fraction of these gangs have been targeted for a CGI. Although it might be expected that places most severely impacted by gang-related crime would be targeted, preliminary analysis of Los Angeles CGIs suggests that this is not the case and that other factors influence the CGI decision process. Through an analysis of archival materials on CGI court cases in Los Angeles and a geographic information system-based spatial analysis of the urban context of CGI-targeted gang territories, the student will test the hypothesis that privileged adjacency (the spatial juxtaposition of more affluent middle-class communities and gang territories) plays an important role in explaining CGI targeting decisions. The second objective of this project is to determine the extent of crime displacement associated with CGIs. Criminological literature on aggressive police actions addresses crime displacement, but this issue has received minimal treatment as it relates to CGIs. Using detailed multivariate analysis of gang-related crime patterns over time, the dissertation tests the hypothesis that CGIs are associated with crime displacement phenomena. This research project will provide a comprehensive understanding of a high-profile policing strategy for the suppression of urban gangs by focusing on socio-spatial dynamics of gang neighborhood targeting. Such a geographic perspective has rarely been considered in the academic literature, in public policy discussions, or in debates on CGIs. The research will increase understanding about the ways that policies of city government, business interests, middle-class communities, and politics can influence the injunction process. Findings also will contribute to theories of urban racial formation by testing the hypothesis that gangs not slated for a CGI are located in more racially homogeneous, lower-income communities with little access or geographic proximity to more privileged areas. From a policy perspective, the research will reveal the extent to which the implementation of CGIs leads to uneven law enforcement practices, thereby leaving those communities not targeted for suppression efforts vulnerable to continued gang violence, which in turn leads to further racialization, higher and more persistent crime, and deepening political and economic marginalization. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.