Search
for books by Author,
Title or Subject
Complete List of Publications
View Shopping Cart
Print the Order Form (pdf)
Criminal Justice Press
PO Box 249
Monsey, NY 10952 USA
Fax: 603-357-2073
Phone: 800-345-6665
E-mail: cjpress109@aol.com
Examination Copy Policy
How to Submit
Book Proposals
Books On:
Crime Prevention Studies |
Crime and Delinquency |
Criminal and Juvenile Justice |
Restorative Justice |
Book Info
*New*
How Drug Dealers Settle Disputes: Violent and Nonviolent Outcomes
Angela Patrice Taylor
(paperback)
2007, 250 pages
ISBN: 978-1-881798-76-7
$35.00
Series editor Mercer L. Sullivan notes that despite the long dominance of quantitative studies in criminology, qualitative research has endured because of its distinctive and irreplaceable insights. The book format is ideal for qualitative studies, according to Dr. Sullivan, because it allows sufficient space for the optimal presentation of qualitative data and its nuanced analyses. In his foreword, Dr. Sullivan notes that Angela Taylor’s investigation of the dynamics of violence among drug dealers is a “fine first installment in this series” because it illustrates many of the distinctive advantages of qualitative research.
Dr. Angela P. Taylor’s study is based on extensive interviews with 25 New York City drug sellers. The following questions are addressed: What are the characteristics of drug-business disputes? How do such disputes move from initial confrontation to the final result? Do violent disputes differ in kind or degree from nonviolent ones? And, are situational factors (such as the presence or weapons or third parties and participants’ drug use) significant determinants of violent versus nonviolent outcomes?
Dr. Taylor’s is the first study of nonviolent outcomes in drug disputes and one of the few to highlight assaults (as opposed to homicides) in drug-selling violence. She found that conflicts over money owed to dealers and theft of their drug supplies were more likely to produce violent outcomes, while disputes over personal insults were more likely to be settled without violence. Interestingly, conflicts over selling territories were as likely to be nonviolent as violent. Among the other main factors associated with violent outcomes were the availability of weapons during disputes and the presence of unequal numbers of partisans supporting one of the principals. Other factors militating against violent outcomes included mutual personal respect among the opposing parties and the high “solvability” quotient of the dispute.
Dr. Taylor’s book presents extensive excerpts from interviews with the drug sellers, which yield rich insights into the thoughts, emotions and world-views of her subjects. The study also expands and strengthens situational theories of violence.
"This is an excellent ethnographic study that will appeal to both scholars and undergraduates. We learn why some disputes become violent and some do not, as well as important information about the drug trade." Prof. Richard B. Felson, Pennsylvania State University.
Angela P. Taylor, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of criminal justice at Fayetteville State University. Previously she was a project director at the National Development Research Institutes, Inc., where she participating in research on quality-of-life policing, the accuracy of self-reported substance use, and sweat testing of drugs, among other topics. Dr. Taylor received her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in criminal justice from Rutgers University in Newark.
Dr. Mercer L. Sullivan’s is widely recognized for his ethnographic research on crime and other social problems in inner-city neighborhoods. He is an associate professor in the School of Criminal Justice at Rutgers University-Newark, and his book "Getting Paid: Youth Crime, and Work in the Inner City," is a touchstone for many discussions of street crime etiology and street crime.
Criminal Justice Press Home
copyright 2008 Criminal Justice Press
