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

Robert McLean, Grace Robinson and James Densley
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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

Societies, 2018, vol. 8, issue 3, 1-10

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.

Keywords: gangs; drug sales; violence; War on Drugs; organized crime (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A13 A14 P P0 P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 Z1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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