public nuisance law california

A conviction for either charge can lead to the same penalties, which can include: You should also be aware that individuals can face an additional charge under PC 372 or 373a for each day that they do not remove the public nuisance. For example, antiloitering ordinances attempt to combat criminal activity by criminalizing what would otherwise be considered “civil” activity (i.e., standing in a public way). Printed from Oxford Research Encyclopedias, Criminology and Criminal Justice. Individuals who cause a public nuisance for their neighbors can even face charges under: You can get additional information about California Penal Code Section 372 and 373a: Public Nuisance right here. A residential survey and series of observations were conducted to assess the impact of the Verdugo Flats Gang Injunction Program in San Bernardino, California. As discussed above, anti-loitering and other anti-nuisance ordinances attempt to curtail activities that, although noncriminal, distally support or evolve into disorderly or criminal activities. Will A Los Angeles Public Defender Help Me Win A DUI Charge? For example, the presence of a “nuisance” can be ascertained through residents’ reports or through the formal actions of police officers and prosecutors. You can focus on handling California Penal Code Section 372 and 373a: Public Nuisance charges today by contacting the Simmrin Law Group. Each charge can lead to the same penalties. whether it be a criminal nuisance or not is wholly immaterial. v. City of Annapolis, 2001). Civil remedies also vary on several dimensions, including their purposes (e.g., prevention or control), focal points (e.g., people or places), targets (e.g., gang members or property or business owners [third parties]), primary problems (e.g., crimes or incivilities), statutory basis (e.g., ordinances, laws, or codes), and sanctions (e.g., fines, evictions, or property seizures) (Mazerolle & Roehl, 1998). Individuals may face PC 372 charges if they: Maintain a Public Nuisance; Commit a Public Nuisance; Willfully Refuse to Carry Out a Legal Duty to Remove a Public Nuisance; As you can see, this charge can apply in a large number of different circumstances. In this case, a street gang was allegedly “terrorizing” a neighborhood in San Jose, California through criminal activity on public streets, including drug use, violence, and shootings. In short, drug and gang abatement programs appear to be cost-effective strategies to prevent continued drug sales on private properties and gang activities in public places. 29 likes. Within the gang injunction areas, surveys found pre–post implementation reductions in residents’ reports of gang presence, gang intimation, and fear of confrontations with gang members (Maxson, Hennigan, & Sloane, 2005). . Moreover, the subjects of such actions are not accorded with the same due process rights as criminal defendants (e.g., the right to a jury trial or to cross-examine witnesses) (Cheh, 1998). Hence, by curtailing their ability to occupy public lands, gang members lose their control over neighborhoods, which reduces their power and sphere of criminal influence (Gang Congregation Ordinance, 1992). In tort law, a type of wrong. California law defines a nuisance as activity that injures health, including selling illegal drugs, indecent behavior or behavior offending the senses. I have written about the threat to the Rule of Law created by abuse of Public Nuisance doctrine. Code § 3480. The program used notification and warning letters instructing landlords to evict drug-selling tenets from targeted buildings; the landlords were threatened with subsequent court action for failing to instigate eviction procedures. The City of Chicago sought (indirectly) to stop gang members from engaging in vandalism, drug dealing, and shootings by preventing them from congregating on the street. Confidential. Behavior that obstructs the “free use” of property and interferes with the “comfortable enjoyment of life or property” is also a nuisance. assaulting and/or battering any residents or patrons or visitors . Gang loitering was defined in the code as “remaining in any one place under circumstances that would warrant a reasonable person to believe that the purpose or effect of that behavior is to enable a criminal street gang to establish control over identifiable areas, to intimidate others from entering those areas, or to conceal illegal activities” (Chicago Municipal Code §8-4-015). In civil proceedings, actions to abate public nuisances are heard before a judge who can issue an injunction that orders an activity to cease or an asset to be forfeited (e.g., confiscating a property from its owners if it is a site for illegal activity). A civil action; or, 3. Abatement. But, he said he was a little reluctant to jump on board with this many pages of ordinances. As noted above, civil remedies (i.e., non-penal interventions) have been implemented to promote or protect public interests, safety, or rights through the abatement of public nuisances. The residential survey and observations were implemented 18 months before and 18 months after the initiative. Public nuisance. . The City Attorney’s Office in the name of the People of the State of California files a civil lawsuit (i.e., a gang property abatement complaint) that seeks to stem recurring criminal activity at targeted gang-controlled private properties. Both PC 372 and PC 373s are prosecuted as misdemeanors in the state of California. For example, in Leal v. the Town of Cicero (2000), an ordinance prohibiting any person from “obstruct(ing) or encumber(ing) any street corner or other public place . . Despite efforts to reign in the scope of such civil abatement provisions, critics have continued to raise equal-protection and due process concerns about antigang loitering ordinances (Strosnider, 2002). Can focus on handling California Penal Code 372 PC is the California Supreme court considered criminal... 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