Social Structure of Street Drug Dealing (From Drugs, Crime, and Justice: Contemporary Perspectives, P 159-191, 1997, Larry K Gaines and Peter B Kraska, eds. -- See NCJ-165819)

• NCJ Number: 165827
• Author(s): J H Skolnick; T Correl; E Navarro; R Rabb
• Date Published: 1997
• Length: 33 pages
• Sale Source: Waveland Press, Inc.
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: DCC

Annotation

A 2-month study was carried out in 1988 to investigate the relation between drug distribution in California and the gang phenomenon, the socialization of drug dealers into the drug business, the organization of street drug dealing, financial and contractual arrangements associated with street drug dealing, and drug markets.

Abstract

More than 80 interviews were conducted, 39 with inmates and wards at four California correctional institutions and 42 with city and county police, State narcotics officers, and correctional officials. Study findings distinguished between the cultural gang and the entrepreneurial gang. Cultural gangs were not organized for the purpose of selling drugs as a gang business. These gangs were typically found in the Mexican- American community and stressed loyalty to neighborhood and other gang members. In contrast, entrepreneurial gangs were organized primarily to sell drugs. Such gangs predominated in northern California and gang members perceived themselves as organized criminals. Although neighborhood ties often formed the basis for gang recruitment, individual commitment to life-of-crime values was the key requirement for gang membership. Crack cocaine appeared to be the most profitable drug and sometimes blurred the distinction between the cultural gang and the entrepreneurial gang. The future of drug markets is discussed in terms of drug use and drug sale patterns. 19 references and 3 notes