NCJ Number
159299
Journal
Drugs and Violence Volume: 4 Issue: 4 Dated: (1995) Pages: 81,83,85,87,89,91
Date Published
1995
Length
6 pages
Annotation
Interviews with more than 100 youthful drug dealers incarcerated in California prisons and more than 100 police officers gathered information about these offenders, their gangs, and their participation in drug trafficking.
Abstract
Results indicated that no inherent relationship exists between gangs and drugs and that gangs are not synonymous with drugs. Instead, the cultural or neighborhood-based gang is strongly grounded in a neighborhood identity, which may extend through generations. These gangs differ from opportunistic groups of young men calling themselves gangs or mobs, which are vertically organized primarily for the purpose of distributing drugs. This type of gang dominates the drug trade in northern California and in other parts of the United States. Such gangs, which can be considered entrepreneurial gangs, are strictly business operations and are organized primarily to engage in criminal activities. In northern California, gang associated violence is instrumental, for the purpose of controlling a drug territory or enforcing norms of loyalty to the organization. In contrast, Los Angeles drug dealers engage in both cultural and instrumental violence. After a youth is accepted into a cultural gang, participation in the drug business can facilitate upward mobility. Cultural gang control of drug dealing seems to have intensified. The ability of law enforcement to control the drug problem is limited. Society's challenge is to turn the energy and intelligence of these illegal entrepreneurs into socially constructive channels, as well as to reduce the demand for drugs.