1. Code of the Streets
Elijah Anderson

2. Anderson’s Research Approach
Ethnography

3. Competing Values The Decent Family The Street Family
Coexist in poor, urban neighborhoods

4. The Meaning of R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Techniques for gaining respect are learned on the street
Rational choice?

5. Campaigning for Respect

6. Anderson’s Big Picture
Global Economy, Poverty, Prejudice, Drugs
Social isolation/alienation from conventional ways of life, including the criminal justice system
Code of the street
(norms governing violence)

7. Inner City Economy and the Drug Trade
Low Income Jobs
Underground Economy
Welfare Payments

8. Community Tolerance of Drug Trade
Boys are not bad, they just need money
Drug money is a source of family income
Residents avoid “seeing” – fear retribution
Parents look the other way, not my child
Is morality a luxury of the rich?

9. Drugs and Punishment
Conservative approach
Liberal approach

10. Crack v. Powder Cocaine (Possession with intent to distribute)
Powder cocaine: 500 grams (street value = $50,000) = 5 year minimum sentence
Crack cocaine: 5 grams (street value = $500) = 5 year sentence (mandatory for 1st offense)

11. Racial Disparity in Cocaine Possession Convictions
1994
Powder
Crack
% Black
26.7
84.5
% White
58.0
10.3
% Hispanic
15.0
5.2

12. Implications for Poor Neighborhoods
Poor, urban neighborhoods are the largest contributors to the prison population
Are there downsides to incarceration policies that focus on drug crime?

13. Downsides