NCJ Number
162176
Date Published
1990
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This chapter suggests an agenda for developing a collaborative relationship among Public Housing Authorities, police, and public housing residents to resolve drug problems at the community level.
Abstract
This chapter suggests that, rather than addressing drug dealing itself, efforts to cope with drug problems in public housing should focus on the specific ways in which drug activity harms the community: (1) violence and fear of violence, heightened by the fact that drug dealers are armed; (2) corruption (police or housing officials in the pay of drug dealers); (3) creation and support of criminal organizations (drug dealers operating as businesses from within the community); (4) disorder in public places such as vandalism, resulting in fear and loss of neighborhood morale; (5) physical harm to drug users; (6) economic losses (commercial enterprises reluctant to enter the area, property crimes); (7) destructive effects on youth population (increased incidence of adolescent pregnancy, dropping out of school, involvement in drug dealing); and (8) distrust of government and alienation from society (residents considering themselves abandoned by police and housing authorities and apart from the rest of the citizenry).