Due to escalating gang activity and high crime rates in Oakland, California Mayor Jean Quan proposed gang injunctions in Oakland, which were passed in May, 2011. These highly controversial injunctions were only proposed for 2 areas of Oakland – the North side of Oakland and the Fruitvale district. Injunctions were placed in these areas even though the highest crime rates were located in the West Oakland and East Oakland district 6 areas. Opponents of the injunctions cite concerns about the high costs of implementing and maintaining them, as well as the possibility of civil rights violations. They also criticize the motives behind them and raise questions about the actual safety achieved and issues of gentrification. A gang injunction is a court-issued restraining order that prohibits named gang members from participating in a variety of specified activities. A "gang member" is defined as an individual who knowingly belongs to a gang, i.e. has specific intent to be a gang member. Under this definition, gang members have sufficient notice of what constitutes a prohibited "gang association." The goal of gang injunctions are to prevent criminal activity before it occurs and to end the problems that already exist. Effectiveness Gang Injunctions have become more common in California because of the rapid growth of gangs in the 1940s-1980s. Criminal activities committed by street gangs strike fear in those who live among them and gang injunctions, in general, can provide a sense of control and security for neighborhoods. However, it is impossible to impose uniform standards on injunctions and a balance must be reached between the need to identify and punish suspected criminals and ensuring that their everyday liberties are not violated. Gang injunctions seem to be beneficial when they are well thought out and when there are proper channels of communication and dedicated individuals committed to investing their time to accommodate any necessary changes. In order to achieve the most effective outcome, each gang needs to be analyzed and understood before an injunction is implemented. The current ways in which injunctions are placed are not always successful because all gangs are viewed as a homogeneous group and, since many gangs actually function in different ways, some of the injunctions’ processes fail to accommodate each gang's different actions. They are also vague by accusing gang members by association rather than by crime. They may simply arrest a youth because they live in the same block