Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

Younger abstention

A federal courts decision not to interfere with an ongoing state criminal proceeding by issuing an injunction or granting declaratory relief, unless the prosecution has been brought in bad faith or merely as harassment. Younger u. Harris, 401 U.S. 37, 91 S.Ct. 746 (1971). - Also termed equitable-restraint doctrine. 2. By extension, a federal court's decision not to interfere with a state-court civil proceeding used to enforce the criminal law, as to abate an obscene nuisance. See OUR FEDERALISM.