NCJ Number
128783
Date Published
1990
Length
36 pages
Annotation
This analysis of violence and aggression among crack dealers and other illicit drug dealers in New York City concludes that violence among crack sellers may result less from the risks associated with the settings in which crack is sold than from individual predispositions toward violent lifestyles in existence before such persons become involved in drug dealing.
Abstract
Information came from interviews with persons arrested for drug possession or sales in two Manhattan neighborhoods, residents who matched the arrested population but who had avoided legal or social intervention for drug use or selling, and participants in residential drug treatment programs. The 559 participants were recruited through "snowball" sampling procedures. The interviews gathered information on initiation into substance use or selling, involvement with both substances and nondrug crimes, the social processes of substance use or selling, income sources and expenditures from both legal and illegal activities, and time in treatment or corrections. Results called into question the common stereotypes of young crack sellers and indicate that they are involved in multiple drug use and in both drug and nondrug violence. In addition, they are violent more often than other drug sellers. Thus, their behavior appears to be part of a generalized pattern of deviance. Figure, tables, footnotes, and 67 references