On the run : fugitive life in an American city / Alice Goffman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Goffman, Alice, author.

Series:

Fieldwork encounters and discoveries

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Criminal justice, Administration of--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia.

Criminal justice, Administration of.

African American youth--Legal status, laws, etc--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia.

African American youth.

African American youth--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia--Social conditions.

Discrimination in criminal justice administration--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia.

Discrimination in criminal justice administration.

Racial profiling in law enforcement--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia.

Racial profiling in law enforcement.

Imprisonment--Social aspects--United States.

Imprisonment.

Imprisonment--Social aspects.

Social conditions.

United States.

Pennsylvania--Philadelphia.

Pennsylvania.

Physical Description:

xiv, 277 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

Chicago ; London : The University of Chicago Press, [2014?]

Summary:

Forty years in, the War on Drugs has done almost nothing to prevent drugs from being sold or used, but it has nonetheless created a little-known surveillance state in America's most disadvantaged neighborhoods. Arrest quotas and high-tech surveillance techniques criminalize entire blocks, and transform the very associations that should stabilize young lives--family, relationships, jobs--into liabilities, as the police use such relationships to track down suspects, demand information, and threaten consequences. Alice Goffman spent six years living in one such neighborhood in Philadelphia, and her close observations and often harrowing stories reveal the pernicious effects of this pervasive policing. Goffman introduces us to an unforgettable cast of young African American men who are caught up in this web of warrants and surveillance--some of them small-time drug dealers, others just ordinary guys dealing with limited choices. All find the web of presumed criminality, built as it is on the very associations and friendships that make up a life, nearly impossible to escape.

Contents:

The 6th Street boys and their legal entanglements

The art of running

When the police knock your door in

Turning legal troubles into personal resources

The social life of criminalized young people

The market in protections and privileges

Clean people

Conclusion: a fugitive community

Epilogue: leaving 6th Street.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 263-277).

Local Notes:

Athenaeum copy: Gemmill fund bookplate.

ISBN:

9780226136714 ;