I agree with this because it is clear to see that after reading this article these drug dealers have no other choice but to risk their lives dealing drugs to provide for their family One quote that supports this is “..the foot soldiers earned just $3.30 an hour, less than the minimum wage.” The cause of this problem has a lot to due with the distribution of money in gangs. The gang presented in this article distributes its money like so, the leader takes home $66 an hour, his 3three officers earn $7 an hour and the foot soldiers earn $3.30 an hour. As you can see the distribution is far from fair when 2.2% of the gang takes home more than half the money. Another quote that supports this is “I mean,everyday people struggling to survive, so you know, we just do what we can. We ain't got no choice and if that means getting killed... its what we do around here to feed our family.” Another cause of this problem is the lack of choices they can make.
Paid in Full is about a young man who rises to the top of the cocaine industry in Harlem; which is common for most African Americans to do for those who grew up without father figures. At the beginning of the movie, Ace is stuck in a dead end job working in a dry cleaner's shop. His sister's boyfriend, Calvin, is a big time drug dealer who often tries to lure Ace into becoming a part of the drug trade with promises of fast money and glamour. Ace resists these temptations, warning constantly that Calvin's flashy style and audacious method of dealing will get him arrested. When Calvin does get locked up, Ace ends up taking his position on the streets after a chance encounter with Lulu, a Dominican drug dealer.
Drug Trafficking in the United States from Mexico Drug trafficking in the United States and Mexico is a huge problem for the United States because it has a negative impact on other areas in society such as crime rates. The government needs to find a solution to better control drug trafficking because it claims lives and destroys families. Research shows Marijuana and Cocaine are the top two most illegally abused drugs in the United States. James Gray (2001) points out: Not only is this drug-money corruption problem of enormous concern in its own right, but additional lawless behavior often is derived from it as well. For example, the entire southern California area was shocked in September 1999 when a former officer of the Rampart Division
Cocaine Kids showed how society views most drug dealer, with stereotyping them as gangsters with big gold rope necklaces, fresh kicks, and nice cars. It was a bigger chance that the Cocaine Kids would get caught because of where they lived, the areas that they stayed in promoted drug use. There was more of a risk of being caught for drug dealing that is why certain extensive procedures were followed in Cocaine Kids. It was to the degree of the market almost having its own “miniature society with institutions, laws, morality, language codes in behaviors of its own.” (Williams, pg.2). A person would think people with money would be looked down upon because they buy these illegal drugs but there is less stigmatizing because they have disposable money.
It was the fact that the homeless addicts weren’t just sitting around getting high and injecting heroin, but were actually trying to go out and get jobs and homes once again. Most think that these people chose this way of life and that all they care about is their drugs. “Righteous Dopefiend” enlightens us, showing how many of these people became homeless because they were forced onto the streets because they didn’t have the education to get a good job, which to me is very disheartening. This ethnography showed me how protected and sheltered we are from some the things going on in, not just the United States, but around the world. Before reading this book, I believed ethnographies such as these to not be too important.
Emma Cave Adv. American II Mr. Barry 10/15/09 Advanced American II Term Paper: Organized Crime of the 1920’s & 30’s The 1920’s and 30’s was a difficult time for American society. Many resorted to lives of crime because they thought they had no other option or thought it was a better way to make money then an honest job. Others adored and idolized these outlaws, thinking they were heroes. In these times the justice department experienced much trouble from the Underworld they sought to try and get rid of, only to end up being used by them.
CRIMINOLOGY - Freakonomics On Crime – Crimes according to Steven D. Levitt In this video, reasons why criminality is going down are given. Experts give several reasons, which are: * Harsher sentences * Crack decrease * Police increase, new methods, gun control, strong economy * Abortion Levitt based his research on economic data in order to proof that these reasons were not totally right. He shows that harsher sentences are responsible for 30% of the crime reduction, as two million Americans are in jail. Changes in crack market represents 15% of the crime reduction but this is not due to the “disappearance” of crack. It is actually because of the price of crack and its generated profits that crime goes back.
Even though stats say something else, the media automatically portrays the teenagers as the bad guy. Eighty five percent of the murders are done by adults. With titles such as “children having sex” and “killer kids” it is clearly shows why such abuses are the key factors in violence, pregnancy, drug abuse and suicide among teenagers. ) This shows that what people assume to be reality, may in fact be incorrect. But these assumptions again are based off of what society
Federal Crack Vs. Powder Cocaine Sentencing Guidelines: Why poor and minority populations are being denied their 14th amendment rights. Introduction to the Problem, Overview and History of the Crack Cocaine Epidemic With the explosion of crack cocaine during the early 1980’s came a whirlwind of complications for society as a whole and the African American community in particular. This new, inexpensive version of cocaine, made the drug readily available to an entirely new social class. In doing so it received massive media attention labeling the drug as hyper-addictive and violence inducing. Due in part to the media propaganda, congress was forced into action early on in the epidemic.
Legalization of all Drugs The United States Government seems to be blind to the fact that the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) is bringing the United States down and filling up our jails for criminal charges using drugs. Illegal drugs are the reason why crime is such a big issue in the United States, gangs are flourishing more so now than ever before. Although the DEA has been established for a while now, they still don’t having any regulation on what type of drug gets into the US, they crowd up our jails and waste a substantial amount of money that could be put to something profitable for the American people and economy. Even though the US government is aware that they are failing in the War on Drugs, they still are putting immense amounts