Justice or Just Us? Social Death, Gang Injunctions, and the Creation of a Modern American Apartheid State

Abstract

This article will discuss the practice of civil gang injunctions in Southern California, its history, and civil court procedures. It explores the gang abatement method’s unconstitutionality through the lens of the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution, critiquing the unequal treatment of people of color in the justice system. Through philosophical theories of language and authoritarian control, the article will go on to discuss how a supposedly egalitarian nation like the United States could support and continue the utilization of such a harmful tactic. Finally, the article will contextualize gang injunctions with the South African practice of apartheid and argue that it fits the classification of an apartheid policy under the definitions of the international court and other international treaties.