NCJ Number
221103
Journal
Journal of Drug Issues Volume: 37 Issue: 4 Dated: Fall 2007 Pages: 867-892
Date Published
2007
Length
26 pages
Annotation
This paper compares and contrasts three distinct types of drug markets and the types of systemic violence that are characteristic of each.
Abstract
Results indicate that although violence is thought by many to be integral to illegal drug markets, this is not universal; however, many types of drug markets do involve considerable violence and often produce typical configurations of systemic violence that are not difficult to identify. Delivery markets are far less likely to be sources of violence or community disorder than fixed location or street-based markets, regardless of the social organizations of the distributors. The study compares the initiative that focuses efforts on reducing gun violence, Ceasefire, as a potential model to achieve similar reduction in drug market violence. In particular, the Ceasefire initiative recognizes that many of the root causes of urban violence stem from structural conditions and that law enforcement approaches alone cannot solve these problems; their gun violence reduction efforts often involve building coalitions from broad segments of the community, social workers, outreach workers, clergy, and others to help ensure that the intervention is not strictly focused upon law enforcement solutions. These wide ranging strategies focus their greatest attention and coercive power on particular individuals responsible for shootings and killings. The methods used by the law enforcement component of the Ceasefire initiative is how they have been able to focus on relatively small numbers of key individuals to produce almost immediate plunges in shooting and homicides in targeted neighborhoods or cities. The benefits of the Ceasefire approach include rapid, proven reductions in the incidence of shootings and homicides in the cities where it has been implemented and sustained over time. But in addition to reducing the harms directly associated with gun violence and particular forms of selling drugs, the Ceasefire approach also promises to reduce the harms associated with high rates of arrest and incarceration, and stigmatizing large numbers of young men in communities of color. Notes, references