Street Justice: Retaliation in the Criminal Underworld

Cambridge Studies in Criminology

by Bruce A. Jacobs, Richard Wright

Street criminals live in a dangerous world, but they cannot realistically rely on the criminal justice system to protect them from predation by fellow lawbreakers; they are on their own when it comes to dealing with crimes perpetrated against them and often use retaliation as a mechanism for deterring and responding to victimization. Although retaliation lies at the heart of much of the violence that plagues many inner-city neighborhoods across the United States, it has received scant attention from criminologists. As a result, the structure, process, and forms of retaliation in the real world setting of urban America remain poorly understood. Street Justice: Retaliation in the Criminal World, first published in 2006, explores the face of modern day retaliation from the perspective of currently active criminals who have experienced it first hand, as offenders, victims, or both.

Genres: Sociology

168 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2006

Reviews

[Beneen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read it for class

[Nativeabuse · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I really enjoyed the interviews and the studies, the references section was more useful than the actual book itself.

This book didn't really tell me anything I didn't already know. I feel like watching a season of gangland or a 10 gang fight related episodes of first 48 gave me just as much information as could be got out of this book, but in a visual way in which you can see the reality, instead of such a cold sterile study.

I feel like if someone read this without actually seeing video footage examples of what he discusses in the book to supplement it, they would be totally in the dark to the situation.

A few episodes of gangland can teach as much as this entire book.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-written book on the concept of "street justice." Demonstrates why street justice is no only a reality, but a necessity - to some extent - in the criminal world. A must-read for anyone interested in criminology.