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The Rise of Drug Dealing in the Life of the North American Street Gang

Author

Listed:
  • Robert McLean

    (Interdisciplinary Research Unit on Crime, Policing and Social Justice, School of Education, University of the West of Scotland, Hamilton ML3 0JB, UK)

  • Grace Robinson

    (Department of Law and Criminology, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk L39 4QP, UK)

  • James Densley

    (School of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, Metropolitan State University, St Paul, MN 55106, USA)

Abstract

Historical gang literature traditionally perceived street gangs as boisterous outfits occasionally engaged in delinquency. In recent decades however, street gang behavior has come to be seen ever more as encroaching upon criminality, primarily due to its involvement in drug supply. This article aims to provide a brief historical review as to how the practice of drug supply entered into the life of the street gang, with specific emphasis on The War on Drugs in the 1970s and the rise of the crack cocaine economy in the 1980s.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert McLean & Grace Robinson & James Densley, 2018. "The Rise of Drug Dealing in the Life of the North American Street Gang," Societies, MDPI, vol. 8(3), pages 1-10, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:8:y:2018:i:3:p:90-:d:170615
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andrea Mario Lavezzi, 2008. "Economic structure and vulnerability to organised crime: Evidence from Sicily," Global Crime, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(3), pages 198-220, August.
    2. Steven D. Levitt & Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh, 2000. "An Economic Analysis of a Drug-Selling Gang's Finances," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(3), pages 755-789.
    3. Dick Hobbs & Georgios A. Antonopoulos, 2013. "‘Endemic to the species’: ordering the ‘other’ via organised crime," Global Crime, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(1), pages 27-51, February.
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