Tennessee Bill to Ban Gang Members from Public Spaces

Senators are slated to act this week on a bill that provides statutory guidance for courts using Tennessee’s public nuisance law to keep criminal gang members out of public areas like parks and neighborhoods.

Senators are slated to act this week on a bill that provides statutory guidance for courts using Tennessee’s public nuisance law to keep criminal gang members out of public areas like parks and neighborhoods, reports the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

The Community Safety Act builds on a 2009 change in the public nuisance law that brought criminal gangs and their members under its provisions.

Acting on requests by Nashville and Memphis officials, judges last year issued injunctions barring Kurdish Pride Gang members from gathering in a Nashville park and prevented the Riverside Rollin’ 90s Neighborhood Crips from congregating in a South Memphis neighborhood.

State Safety Commissioner Bill Gibbons said the goal of the Haslam administration bill is to encourage wider use of nuisance laws against criminal gangs by codifying the approach.

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