Inner City Youth and Drug Dealing: A Review of the Problem

• NCJ Number: 173662
• Journal: Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 27 Issue: 3 Dated: June 1998 Pages: 395-411
• Author(s): N L Centers; M D Weist
• Date Published: 1998
• Length: 17 pages
• Grant Number(s): MCJ24SH02-01-0
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Health and Human Services
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Existing literature on drug dealing and inner-city adolescents underscores a serious and worsening problem and indicates about one in six urban adolescents have had some involvement in drug dealing, with rates even higher for black males over 16 years of age.

Abstract

Several problems are associated with drug dealing by inner- city teenagers, including juvenile arrests, involvement in violence as both victims and perpetrators, substance abuse, behavioral and emotional difficulties, and academic failure and dropout. In terms of etiology, three influences have received the most attention: family dysfunction, economic factors, and perceptions of drug dealing that promote involvement in it. Limited recognition of the severity of the drug dealing problem among inner-city adolescents corresponds to an almost total lack of efforts to prevent or address the problem. The authors recommend prevention efforts focus on individual, family, group, school, community, and mass media levels to address the serious and escalating problem of drug dealing by inner-city youth. 45 references and 1 table