NCJ Number
187696
Date Published
2000
Length
39 pages
Annotation
A major ethnographic project conducted from 1989 to 1997 greatly improved the scientific understanding of crack and illicit drug distribution and markets in New York City.
Abstract
Project staff developed procedures and outreach methodologies to access and safely conduct research among active sellers, dealers, and low-level distributors of crack, cocaine, and heroin. The crack distribution business involved specific roles classified into four major groups--low-level distributors, sellers, dealers, and high-level distributors. Role proliferation helped evade police and the most serious penalties and protected sellers from competitors. The relative effectiveness of police tactics in gaining control of the streets in the mid-1990's had modest impacts on the crack and drug markets. Prices of retail and wholesale units of crack and cocaine remained relatively stable during the 1989-1997 period. Many inner city youth who were born in the 1970's and who reached adulthood in the 1990's avoided crack smoking and the injection of heroin and cocaine. However, having been raised in severely distressed households, their social capital (family and social backgrounds plus acquired skills) was very low as they reached adulthood in the 1990's. They had a low probability of gaining steady employment or welfare payments in adulthood, and this adversely affected family cohesion. 120 references, 10 notes, and 2 tables