Transcript Urban Street Violence

Code of the Streets
Elijah Anderson
Anderson’s Research Approach
• Ethnography
Competing Values
• The Decent Family
• The Street Family
• Coexist in poor, urban neighborhoods
The Meaning of
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
• Techniques for gaining respect are learned
on the street
– Rational choice?
Campaigning for Respect
Anderson’s Big Picture
Global Economy, Poverty, Prejudice, Drugs
Social isolation/alienation from conventional ways
of life, including the criminal justice system
Code of the street
(norms governing violence)
Inner City Economy
and the Drug Trade
Low Income Jobs
Underground Economy
Welfare Payments
Community Tolerance
of Drug Trade
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Boys are not bad, they just need money
Drug money is a source of family income
Residents avoid “seeing” – fear retribution
Parents look the other way, not my child
Is morality a luxury of the rich?
Drugs and Punishment
• Conservative approach
• Liberal approach
Crack v. Powder Cocaine
(Possession with intent to distribute)
• Powder cocaine: 500 grams (street value =
$50,000) = 5 year minimum sentence
• Crack cocaine: 5 grams (street value =
$500) = 5 year sentence (mandatory for 1st
offense)
Racial Disparity in
Cocaine Possession Convictions
1994
Powder
Crack
% Black
26.7
84.5
% White
58.0
10.3
% Hispanic
15.0
5.2
Implications for Poor
Neighborhoods
• Poor, urban neighborhoods are the largest
contributors to the prison population
• Are there downsides to incarceration
policies that focus on drug crime?
Downsides