NCJ Number
138615
Date Published
1989
Length
135 pages
Annotation
Eighty former cocaine sellers were interviewed to explore the perceived risks and criminal justice pressures on cocaine sellers in the San Francisco Bay area.
Abstract
The 80 cocaine sellers identified several risks associated with the sale of cocaine: general fears of arrest, of informants, about robbery and violence associated with suppliers and customers, about police investigations, about Internal Revenue Service audits, about the possibility of property confiscation, and unanticipated risks. These cocaine sellers perceived both direct and indirect criminal justice pressures. Arrests for some violation of the law either drug- related or not were the direct pressures. Sellers perceived as indirect pressures the arrest of someone from a supplier network, a customer network, or a drug selling partner; fears of investigation by the police; or going to prison. Sixty percent of the former sellers reported that they did not experience any direct or indirect criminal justice pressures. The findings fail to support the view that police activities against sellers will deter people from selling drugs. In general, cocaine sellers recognize they may be arrested for their illegal activities but believe they can avert such risks by limiting sales to individuals who are known not to be police and are trusted not to reveal their activities to authorities. 14 tables, 14 references, and 1 appendix