Birmingham gangs handed super-injunction

Two rival criminal groups in Birmingham have been handed the UK's largest ever injunction, after what West Midland Police described as a "landmark ruling".

Eighteen men aged between 19 and 29 have been banned from parts of the city, forbidden from associating with each other and forced to register their phones and vehicles with the police.

The ruling follows a spat of recent firearms offences in the city, but "the gangs have struck fear across parts of Birmingham for many years", says the BBC.

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In 2003, a feud between the rival Burger Bar Boys and Johnson Crew resulted in the deaths of two young girls. Several drive-by shootings followed - as well as countless cases of drug dealing, intimidation, robbery and kidnap.

This is the largest mass injunction since they were introduced in 2011, but some have argued that such measures fail to deal with the root causes of gang violence.

Solicitor Errol Robinson, who represented two men jailed for gang-related murder earlier this year, said injunctions "are a cheap way of trying to solve crime" but there is "no evidence to suggest that they work".

Earning one has in fact become "a bit of a trophy [that] encourages rebellion", he added. "They don't change behaviour or address underlying issues."