as the gang or because they are of the same racial group. Gang injunctions target minorities as a result of the power that is given to authorities to determine who becomes criminalized and for what crime. This then becomes an issue of banishing certain racial group in the community rather than actually combatting crime. It has been recorded in 2010 that Oakland's urban population decreased by 25%. This is the result of gerrymandering and the mass incarceration of African Americans. This overall decrease in population has a negative impact on the community, by having less resources, increasing more single-home families and a higher turn to drugs as a way out of this life. This further criminalizes the image of the Blacks and portrays it as an issue of their culture rather than the structure built around incarcerating them. Oppression is then faced by minority groups based on other's perception of them, leading to an arc of incarceration, where they do not need to be arrested and placed in prison to feel that they are unwanted in their community. However, others do argue that injunctions are effective because when they are put into action there is often evidence of less graffiti and less gang gatherings, equating to people feeling safe in their own community. Some experts on gangs also argue that the gang members’ fear of impending injunctions can be effective as the fear of going to prison acts as a deterrent to some crime. Another argument is that the fear that injunctions implement on gang members is what leads to effective injunctions and have This proves the effectiveness of some injunctions as crime rates are known to decrease by five percent in the first year of injunctions. However one main problem, with injunctions is that they are not effective long-term. There are also problems with the choice of locations where the injunctions are implemented. For instance, the targeted areas are not always where the highest crime rate is taking place. In Oakland 72 percent of homicides occur in West Oakland’s District 3 and East Oakland’s district 6 and 7, which do not have an injunction. Yet people who are in the gang injunction area are more likely to be punished than if they were to live in West Oakland or East Oakland, meaning that most of the crime committed is not being dealt with. Cost The use of gang injunctions