The landscape of gang enforcement in Orange County is shifting, following the Orange County District Attorney’s Office’s (OCDA) move to dissolve 13 gang injunctions that have long affected hundreds of individuals. According to the OCDA, this action against civil gang injunctions, which span back to 2006, comes in response to the new legislative measures under Assembly Bill 333 that redefine legal parameters around gang activity.
This decision, aligned with California’s revised definition of a “pattern of criminal gang activity,” will notably impact 317 individuals previously subjected to these civil orders. “After numerous audits and years of proactively removing individuals from these injunctions, we are now satisfied that these 13 gang injunctions have served their intended purpose and have now sought their dissolution,” District Attorney Todd Spitzer said, in a statement obtained by FOX LA. Law enforcement has not objected to the dissolutions, which remain “without prejudice,” meaning that the district attorney’s office retains the authority to pursue new injunctions if future gang activity arises.
Originally, gang injunctions were civil court orders that placed restrictions on individuals within specific safety zones to deter gang-related activities. The 13 injunctions in question, established between 2006 and January 2015, included directives like forbidding individuals from associating with other gang members, prohibiting the display of gang symbols, or being present in certain areas at defined times. These measures have been reevaluated in light of AB 333, which demands prosecutors to present evidence of criminal gang activity involving more than one gang member – changing the landscape for how gang enhancements and definitions are approached in the legal system…