1) Crime, which can be described as an action or omission that constitutes an offense that may be prosecuted by the state and is punishable by law, comes in all shapes and sizes. One of the main illegal forces that seems to have a stranglehold on young people is drug dealing.
2) Drug dealing is defined as drug trafficking or knowingly being in possession of, manufacturing, selling, purchasing, or delivering an illegal, controlled substance. Thus, drug-trafficking laws cover many different stages in a drug transaction, and not just the actual illegal sales of drugs between parties.
3) Drug consumption has been globally increased due to the availability and convenience of getting drugs in modern days. The war on drugs in the U.S. can be seen as an epic failure of sorts, and because of this and certain partial victories, this trend has led to a variety of drugs hitting the streets. There has also not been much political reform as far as drugs are concerned because aside from Colorado and Washington legalizing recreational use of marijuana, there has been no decrease in the imprisonment of youth or people due to drug dealing at all. In fact, if anything, there has been a rise in imprisonment.
4) Drug-control policies are seen as useless in today’s age. Because of this lack of policy and the failure of the war on drugs, drug dealing has emerged as a “side job” for people who work 40-hour work weeks, yet still live below the poverty line, and who see their areas being gentrified by big businesses to push them out of their neighborhoods, thus lessening the opportunity to succeed via legal means.
5) For example, youths might see an older person to whom they look up selling drugs, and they may ask how it is done, and that person might in turn have them sell small amounts of drugs, thus earning a small profit. This can be done for a while until the desire for monetary success or the "American Dream” gets the best of them, and they start selling more and more, until they are putting people on, and selling a lot of drugs and unfortunately making a lot of money.
6) But, as far as drugs are concerned, weed isn’t worth that much, and maybe this young person knows someone who sells hard drugs, and they start the same process over again, starting small and working their way up, making more money. Quite possibly, they will quit their job because they are making tons of money illegally until they get caught, go to jail, and then once released, either start it over and sell drugs again, or get judged for having a criminal record, and have trouble finding a minimum-wage job. This is a form of systematic disenfranchisement, and it is one of the causes of youths or others joining the drug game.
7) This is drug dealing, drug trafficking, and it is very illegal, but unfortunately, it is a better alternative for some to working a minimum-wage job off which one cannot live. Drugs are a billion-dollar, black-market industry.
8) A theoretical analysis of this topic can be that of explaining why, as I did above, this type of crime exists, and why it would be appealing to someone. Gentrification, along with disenfranchisement, plays another role. Gentrification is when a large business buys out properties in historically low-income neighborhoods, demolishes them, pushing people out and building areas that attract more middle-class and wealthy individuals, thus raising the property value of the low-income neighborhoods 10-fold. When this happens, individuals who are getting pushed out of the neighborhood see this happening, and might have a negative reaction to it, and get mad, leave, and possibly act violently, or they might have a "positive" reaction due to illegitimate means, such as drug dealing to get themselves up to that level of wealth because they see it as being the only alternative.
9) Subculture could also play a role in my scenario because a subculture could be seen as that poor neighborhood in which the youth are surrounded. These people feel the need to better themselves, or possibly get out of the environment or subculture that they have grown accustomed to in order to get into another subculture or environment because it may be “better” for themselves or their family. To show this point again, when a neighborhood or community is poor, that leads to gentrification, which is when poor neighborhoods are bought by big companies, and then middle- to upper-class apartments are built to attract people who can afford them, and it leads to these people being pushed out of their neighborhoods, and this environment leads to people needing to find other ways to make money - for example, drug dealing! This is a very circular idea, and it actually spells itself out very clearly.
10) Regions and time are a large factor into the intensity of violence and corruption. In low-income areas, it is basically more violent and corrupt because there are not as many cops or general policing involved as these areas can be seen as already too lost to be fixed, which is an inherent problem in America and other places in which this is a large problem.
11) Basically, social institutions such as police, rehabilitation and other things of that nature are ineffective at stopping or preventing this crime from happening. Gentrification is a plan that was planned after a long time of an area being known as a transitional zone or a low-income area, and because of this, it can be said that the very status of the neighborhood was down the drain and beyond repair. Just because a corporation buys land doesn’t mean that it can build whatever it wants. It has to get the required zoning permits, and go through a process in which the city has to accept the terms. The city knows that gentrification is happening and does nothing to stop it. There is no public policy that can stop this from happening, and as I’ve stated, gentrification and systematic disenfranchisement, along with the lack of job opportunities, are what ultimately lead to drug dealing, in my humble opinion.
12) After a person gets out of jail, they are more than likely going to slip back into this lifestyle because they need money, and prison does not supply them with money. Formal social control institutions that are used for rehabilitation as opposed to punishment are also sort of ineffective, but do serve a better purpose as far as moving this person on as an individual set on bettering themselves. If a drug dealer was caught and sent to a rehab facility in which they had no other choice but to take part in the activities brought up before them, they would leave this place with a sense of betterment, and they would have all sorts of skills that would set them up for more success once they are released into the old world from which they came, all the while receiving more skills and valuable character traits that could move them along or make them want to pursue something other than drug dealing or other illegal activities.
13) Ideas such as a lack of confidence in the government, no law enforcement, and severe lack of citizen cooperation have these people thinking they are perpetually at a disadvantage and, therefore, have no way to succeed, and need to do illegal activities such as drug dealing to get by in this environment. This would be almost counterproductive in the sense that this would further extend the gap between the rich and poor, or in a young person’s mind, a gap between the rich and the police, into which they equate any authority figure. Because of this, it is not possible to “correct” the individuals through rehabilitation and definitely, absolutely, not possible through prison sentences because that might create a sense of victimization as opposed to teaching a lesson, and when this person is released, they might actually want to break the rules more because they now feel like they have been wronged by law enforcement. That is not a healthy relationship to have between law enforcement and the citizens they are meant to serve and protect. I would think the best way for the court system and police system to get involved is to keep an eye on these people, and if they get out of hand, instead of locking them up and forgetting about them, it would be important to send them to treatment, even if not for a specific addiction. This would also be on the courts to enforce this sort of solution, although it is not a solution that police and courts can fix.
14) All things considered, I believe the criminal justice system ignores youth and low-income neighborhoods, and because of this, they are neglected, systematically disenfranchised, gentrified, and ultimately without any legal job opportunities, and therefore, are stuck in a perpetual cycle that is our criminal justice system, as it seems to them that no one is actually trying to help them. These people see the way they live, everyone else in their environment, and see them as being miserable, and it is at that point the natural human desire for the good, or that monetary success that is the “American Dream,” leads them to want to better themselves in the sense of fortune, not necessarily virtue. Due to this, the cycle repeats itself, and there is no easy way to fix it, other than governmental reform, which would fall down the ladder, and eventually make its way into the common policing that we are accustomed to today.
15) At the end of the day, this is coming from a 21-year-old, white male in a university, from a middle-class, privileged area of Pennsylvania with no legal, criminal study or background into the mind of a drug dealer, so take this with a grain of salt. Although I may have just invalidated almost everything I have previously said, the research cannot be ignored, and because of that, neither can the truth, and the truth is that we live in an age when the government just does not know what to do with low-income areas, and because of that, they are ignored, and left to fend for themselves, and when this happens, often, illegal activity follows, and because of this, it almost seems like these individuals, unless they have a sinister motive, cannot be blamed.
