ARE GANG INJUNCTIONS LAWFUL?
The first appellate opinion on gang injunctions did not reach the merits of the practice. In People v. Gonzalez (12 Cal. 4th 804 (1996)), the California Supreme Court considered whether a gang member charged with contempt for violating the Blythe Street injunction was wrongfully convicted. The defendant in the case was a gang member who violated the injunction by possessing glass bottles, being present on someone’s property without prior written consent, and obstructing pedestrian and vehicular traffic. The lower courts refused to allow the defendant to challenge the conviction by asserting that the underlying injunction was unconstitutional. The supreme court in Gonzalez, without ruling on the injunction’s constitutionality, held that the defendants must be allowed to defend contempt of court charges by arguing that the underlying injunction was invalid. The constitutionality of gang injunctions was tackled head-on by the state Supreme Court the next year in People ex rel. Gallo v. Ac
