{"id":188928,"date":"2026-02-22T15:27:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T15:27:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/188928\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T15:27:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T15:27:13","slug":"californias-gang-suppression-policies-orange-county-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/188928\/","title":{"rendered":"California\u2019s gang suppression policies \u2013 Orange County Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Aaron Harvey was living outside Las Vegas in 2014 when California authorities swept in and arrested him for conspiracy in a series of gang murders that had occurred in his absence.<\/p>\n

They knew Harvey wasn\u2019t in California when the bullets flew. They knew his finger wasn\u2019t on the trigger. But he was from a neighborhood with gangs, and was friendly with suspected gang members, and had social media posts of same. Thus, unbeknownst to him, Harvey was listed and tracked in the state\u2019s CalGang database<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Under California law at the time \u2014 in this case, Penal Code Section 182.5 \u2014 being in the database was enough. The San Diego District Attorney charged Harvey, potentially locking him up for life.<\/p>\n

How can that possibly be? As the new documentary \u201cCalifornia Story<\/a>\u201d by David Kuhn explores (the movie screened at UC Irvine this month, with a bespectacled Harvey in attendance) a person could be charged with criminal street gang conspiracy if they \u201cactively participated\u201d in a gang and \u201cbenefitted\u201d from the crime, even if they were not present.<\/p>\n

Harvey\u2019s alleged \u201cbenefit\u201d from the carnage that occurred in his absence? Beefed up \u201cstreet cred\u201d in the criminal underworld, prosecutors argued.<\/p>\n

\u2018Future gang member\u2019<\/p>\n

Outrage burned bright in the community room at UCI on Feb. 12, where many targets of California\u2019s gang policies \u2014 some exquisitely tattooed and close to earning their doctorates \u2014 gathered for the screening and discussion. The sting of \u201cgang documentation,\u201d wrongful accusations, extra years behind bars layered atop sentences not for the crime, but for being branded gang members\/\u201dsuper-predators,\u201d cut hot and deep, sparking demands for fairness, for equity, for change.<\/p>\n

\"Brothers<\/a>Brothers Alonzo and Aaron Harvey (Photo by Teri Sforza)<\/p>\n

Isn\u2019t there\u2019s something wrong with kids being flagged as \u201cfuture gang members\u201d when they\u2019re just 9, 10, 11 years old? With Grandma being pulled over and asked if she has gang tattoos? The film explores the humiliation, degradation and rage, which filmgoers said leads to more surveillance, more stops, more searches, more conflict, and the conviction that police are not there to protect and serve \u2014 at least, not to protect and serve them.<\/p>\n

It argues that gangs are what happens when young men band together against what they perceive as a common enemy. Cops as sharks; streets as water. Toss in mediocre schools; a lack of jobs, skills and social supports; poverty; and a sprinkling of family turmoil, and the \u201cfuture gang member\u201d note in a kid\u2019s elementary school file can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.<\/p>\n

For too many, there\u2019s not much besides gang life that provides a sense of belonging and purpose.<\/p>\n

Even though it\u2019s a 21st century database, CalGang might be just the latest version of the scarlet letter. Law enforcement can log your name, birth date, race, gender, address, height, weight, hair and eye color, \u201cpersonal markings\u201d (tattoos, scars), and other details into a statewide database, no arrest or conviction required. These days, you\u2019ll be notified that you\u2019re being added to CalGang, and you can object. But once in the database, the film argues, you\u2019re marked. As was Aaron Harvey.<\/p>\n

\"Sean<\/a>Sean Garcia-Leys (Photo by Teri Sforza)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was easy for people to feel bad for Aaron Harvey,\u201d Harvey said at the screening. Harvey came from a two parent household, had no gang tattoos, was well-spoken. His father was right beside him, fighting the injustice all the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was palatable to people. People heard about our case and they felt sorry for Aaron,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut they\u2019re not paying attention to the systemic issue happening to thousands of Black and brown folks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, Harvey spent seven months in prison. Yes, the charge against him was tossed. Yes, he successfully sued San Diego and split a $1.5 million settlement with a rapper similarly accused. And yes, he graduated from UC Berkeley.<\/p>\n

But most of the 14 people charged alongside him didn\u2019t, or couldn\u2019t, fight. Just two were convicted of felonies at trial. The rest were railroaded, some might say, taking plea deals to avoid worse fates, such as life in prison. Harvey\u2019s brother Alonzo was one of them, accepting three years of probation to end the legal battle.<\/p>\n

For some, the battle hasn\u2019t ended. Harvey is working to change that: \u201cIt\u2019s a duty for me,\u201d he said. \u201cFor all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reforms
\n\"With<\/a>With the assistance of the Santa Ana Police Department\u2019s Gang Suppression Unit, David Lynch was found in San Bernardino and arrested on suspicion of murder. (Courtesy of the Santa Ana Police Department)<\/p>\n

On the up side, gang laws have changed in an attempt to avoid guilt by association, largely thanks to Assembly Bill 333.<\/a><\/p>\n

The 2022 law tightens the definition of \u201ccriminal street gang.\u201d Narrows what actions qualify as a \u201cpattern of activity.\u201d Requires evidence that crimes provide more than a \u201ccommon reputational benefit\u201d to the gang. Restricts gang enhancements in sentencing that often layer extra time atop what\u2019s already due for a guilty verdict or plea.<\/p>\n

In light of these changes \u2014 and to avoid expensive lawsuits that have plagued other jurisdictions \u2014 the Orange County District Attorney\u2019s Office dissolved 13 active gang injunctions <\/a>against 317 people<\/a> last year. Those injunctions could snag people for \u201cassociating with known gang members and wearing known gang clothing\u201d in specific areas claimed by criminal street gangs. That, critics charged, trampled myriad civil rights.<\/p>\n

Some of those injunctions were almost 20 years old. They had targeted the Boys From The Hood in Anaheim; Santa Nita in Santa Ana; Varrio Viejo in San Juan Capistrano; Varrio Chico in San Clemente; Orange County Criminals in Orange; Orange Varrio Cypress in Orange; Hard Times in Garden Grove; Jeffrey Street in Anaheim; Family of Latin Kings in Anaheim; Fullerton Tokers Town in Fullerton; Crow Village in Stanton; East Side Anaheim in Anaheim; and Townsend in Santa Ana.<\/p>\n

\"Ryan<\/a>Ryan Flaco Rising, UCI doctoral student and founder of West Coast Credible Messengers (Photo by Teri Sforza)<\/p>\n

Unfair? Latino gangs were the only targets of those injunctions, even though Orange County was home to White supremacist gangs as well, the Peace & Justice Law Center noted in demand letters to the DA before the injunctions were lifted.<\/p>\n

The film traces all of this back to slavery. Contain, repress, exploit, degrade; structurally, it argues, America needs an underclass. Consider: There has been a 40% reduction in California\u2019s prison population between 2010 and 2024 (from about 165,000 people to about 94,000), but there has been just an 11% drop in what we pay for California Department of Corrections salaries (from an inflation-adjusted $6.5 billion to $5.8 billion).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still invested in the prison-industrial complex and making sure it has the highest chunk of our budget,\u201d said Ryan Flaco Rising, a critical criminologist working on his doctorate at UCI. Rising founded West Coast Credible Messengers, which works with at-risk youth, runs re-entry programs for formerly incarcerated people, and hosted the movie screening.<\/p>\n

\u2018Abuse \u2026 of power\u2019<\/p>\n

Civil rights lawsuits over gang policies \u2014 and the resulting judgments and settlements \u2014 have cost California governments tens of millions of dollars.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>A copy of a photograph on display during a press conference at the Santa Ana Police headquarters in Santa Ana on Thursday, November 7, 2019. The OC Violent Gang Task Force executed multiple arrest warrants for members of the Townsend Street Gang in Santa Ana, Garden Grove, Westminster and Whittier, on Thursday, November 7, 2019. Drugs, guns and cash were seized in the arrests. (Courtesy of Santa Ana Police Department )<\/p>\n

In 2009, the ACLU sued Orange County over an injunction targeting the Orange Varrio Cypress gang. The injunction forbade scores of suspected Varrio Cypress members from associating with one another, wearing gang clothing or being out after 10 p.m.<\/p>\n

An \u201cegregious abuse of government power\u201d violating the young men\u2019s constitutional right to a court hearing where they might argue they weren\u2019t gang members, the ACLU successfully argued. The county wound up paying some $4 million in attorneys costs to the ACLU in 2015.<\/a><\/p>\n

The next year, the city of Los Angeles approved a $30 million settlement to end a federal class-action suit alleging that the city\u2019s gang injunction curfews violated the due process rights of nearly 6,000 people. The city was ordered to pay $1.75 million in attorneys\u2019 costs as well.<\/p>\n

San Diego\u2019s practice of collecting DNA from minors suspected of gang activity \u2014 no arrest or conviction needed \u2014 led to another ACLU lawsuit and a new law forbidding the practice.<\/p>\n

Even though some changes have been made, there\u2019s still a long way to go, many at the screening agreed.\u00a0Gang injunctions and sentencing enhancements remain available to prosecutors. And while CalGang has been dramatically scaled back \u2014 Orange County police agencies had 5,487 records in CalGang in 2019, and just 235 last year, according to data from the Attorney General<\/a> \u2014 filmgoers argued the database remains a potent, and pernicious, tool.<\/p>\n

\u201cLabeling anyone under 18 as a gang member has to stop,\u201d Rising said. \u201cThey can label anyone; it strips people of their rights and treats them as nonhuman subjects.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SWAT<\/a>SWAT team members announce themselves and give occupants of a Santa Ana cyber cafe suspected of harboring gang activity an opportunity to surrender themselves for questioning during a raid on Thursday, September 13, 2018. (Photo by Eric Licas, Orange County Register\/SCNG)<\/p>\n

The solution to social ills is not badges on chests and guns on hips, the film argues. The \u201cwar on drugs\u201d and the \u201cwar on gangs\u201d could be far more effectively addressed by serious investment at the front end \u2014 in radically better schools, intensive one-on-one mentoring, comprehensive leadership and job and training and recreation programs \u2014 rather than at the back end, after folks get in trouble with the law.<\/p>\n

The back end is where our resources are overwhelmingly focused now. It\u2019s worth noting that it costs about $45,000 a year to send one kid to UC Berkeley, including tuition, food, lodging et al, while it costs about $130,000 a year to incarcerate one prisoner.<\/p>\n

How to shift the focus? Rising points to an interesting experiment out of Ecuador. In 2008, the government aimed to increase public safety \u2014 and legalized the country\u2019s largest street gangs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe new Ecuadorian approach viewed crime control through the lens of social citizenship, institutional reform and economic development, with efforts to reach higher levels of social control based on policies of social inclusion,\u201d said a research paper published in Critical Criminology in 2020.<\/a> That meant more resources for youth programs, welfare, health and education.<\/p>\n

In essence, a new social contract was written.<\/p>\n

\"Speakers<\/a>Speakers at the screening of \u201cCalifornia Story\u201d (Photo by Teri Sforza)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Ecuadorian approach was successful, producing the most sustained drop in homicide in the world \u2026 falling from a peak of 21 per 100,000 in 2008 to 5.6 in 2016, not least because it avoided the problems of coercive social control policies that lead to deviance amplification, i.e., the processes in which state and social agencies are mobilized to eradicate the perceived source of a social problem only to see the targeted behaviors increase,\u201d the study said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndeed, years of iron fist policies of gang policing had seen large increases in the prison population and violence across the region, exemplifying its failure to curtail the growth of gangs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wouldn\u2019t it be revolutionary to see something like that here? Long Beach and Los Angeles have worked to cleave youth development programs from the justice system, Rising said, but O.C. trails them.<\/p>\n

The film calls on people to affect similar change by exercising the vote \u2014 \u201cOur vote is our voice!\u201d But some rejected even that. Reforms to California\u2019s gang policies didn\u2019t spring from genuine concern, one man argued. A \u201cbirthrate crash\u201d means fewer kids in schools, and Black and Brown people are getting out of prison to fill a labor shortage. \u201cYou won\u2019t catch me at voting booth on election day,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t negotiate with terrorists.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several people took issue, believing that the universe can, indeed, be bent toward justice. When people see doctoral candidate Rising\u2019s tattoos and ask him which gang he\u2019s from, he laughs, conjures his G.P.A., and says, \u201cThe 4.0 gang.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"In<\/p>\n

In this Dec. 4, 2015, photo, Brandon \u201cTiny Doo\u201d Duncan, left, and Aaron Harvey talk about their experience with Penal Code 182.5 during a community forum at Lincoln High School in San Diego, Calif. Duncan and Harvey, a community organizer, sued the city of San Diego on Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017, for federal civil rights violations over being jailed on gang-related charges that were based on their rap lyrics and social media postings. (Misael Virgen \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)\n<\/p>\n

\"In<\/p>\n

In this March 16, 2015, photo, San Diego-based rapper Brandon Duncan, right, and Aaron Harvey hold a press conference after a trial in San Diego, Calif. Duncan and Harvey, a community organizer, sued the city of San Diego on Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017, for federal civil rights violations over being jailed on gang-related charges that were based on their rap lyrics and social media postings. (Misael Virgen \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)\n<\/p>\n

\"Berkeley<\/p>\n

Berkeley graduate Aaron Harvey proudly stands in the south east San Diego neighborhood he grew up in and lives in, near his home on Wednesday, June 16, 2021 in San Diego, CA. (Eduardo Contreras \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 3<\/p>\n

In this Dec. 4, 2015, photo, Brandon \u201cTiny Doo\u201d Duncan, left, and Aaron Harvey talk about their experience with Penal Code 182.5 during a community forum at Lincoln High School in San Diego, Calif. Duncan and Harvey, a community organizer, sued the city of San Diego on Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017, for federal civil rights violations over being jailed on gang-related charges that were based on their rap lyrics and social media postings. (Misael Virgen \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)\n<\/p>\n

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