How Drug Dealers Settle Disputes (Qualitative Studies in Crime and Justice)

Dr. Angela Taylors study is the first to center on nonviolent outcomes in drug disputes and one of the few to highlight assaults (as opposed to homicides) in drug-selling violence. The research is based on extensive interviews with 25 street-level drug sellers in New York City. Dr. Taylor found that conflicts over money owed to dealers and the theft of their drug supplies were more likely to produce violent outcomes than disputes involving personal insults. Interestingly, conflicts over drug-selling territories a notorious source of violence -- were equally likely to be resolved nonviolently as violently. The availability of weapons during disputes and the presence of unequal numbers of partisans of the principals were associated with violent outcomes. Other factors militating against resorting to violence included mutual personal respect among the opposing parties and the high solvability quotient of the dispute. Extensive excerpts from Dr. Taylors interviews with the drug sellers yield rich insights into the thoughts, emotions and world-views of her subjects. The study also expands and strengthens situational theories of violence.