Getting Over - Economic Alternatives to Predatory Crime Among Street Drug Users (From Drugs-Crime Connection, P 67-84, 1981, James A Inciardi, ed. - See NCJ-79108)

• NCJ Number: 79111
• Author(s): P J Goldstein
• Date Published: 1981
• Length: 18 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Justice; US Dept of Health, Education, and Welfare; New York State
• Sale Source: Sage Publications, Inc
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Street opiate users in the East Harlem area of New York City were interviewed and observed to determine both the criminal and noncriminal ways in which they earned a living and managed to use drug.

Abstract

Study data were mainly gathered via interviews conducted with 51 subjects for at least 30 consecutive days at a storefront office in East Harlem. Field staff also spent much time with subjects on the streets. The subjects used the term 'getting over' to describe their exploitation of various kinds of opportunities to achieve economic success. They tended to engage in drug use and criminal activity on a relatively erratic basis. Opportunism was the central concept governing their activities. When the opportunities arose, most subjects were sufficiently astute to seize them. Opportunism applied equally to predatory criminality, nonpredatory criminality, employment, and miscellaneous hustling activities. The major nonpredatory type of crime involved working in the drug business as a dealer, holder of drugs being sold, 'tout' to advertise available drugs, or related roles. A regular or substantial cash income was not necessary for the subjects because many necessities of life, such as food, were often provided by friends or relatives and, in addition, the bartering of goods or services was a common facet of daily existence. Factors such as these reduced the compulsion of street opiate users to engage in income-generating predatory crime. Tables, notes, and three references are provided.