Code of the Streets

1
Code of the Streets

• Elijah Anderson

2
Andersons Research Approach

• Ethnography

3
Competing Values

• The Decent Family
• The Street Family
• Coexist in poor, urban neighborhoods

4
The Meaning ofR-E-S-P-E-C-T

• Techniques for gaining respect are learned on the
  street
• Rational choice?

5
Campaigning for Respect
6
Andersons 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)

7
Inner City Economyand the Drug Trade
Low Income Jobs
Underground Economy
Welfare Payments
8
Community Toleranceof Drug Trade

• 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?

9
Drugs and Punishment

• Conservative approach
• Liberal approach

10
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)

11
Racial Disparity inCocaine Possession Convictions
12
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?

13
Downsides