Code of the streets

Criminal Justice -- Code of the Street -- Participant Observation

What is the Code of the Street?

Informal rules governing interpersonal public behavior including violence

Respect is at the heart of the Code

Respect is hard won but easily lost

Respect means being "treated right" by others

Respect is determined by the individual's demeanor and behavior

Achieving respect and "juice" is a form of protection against being challenged

Maintaining respect and juice requires responding to challenges at many levels

Projecting confidence and the apparent capacity and inclination to respond aggressively or violently if necessary to avoid loss of respect

The Code of the street applies to both males and females but emphasizes very different characteristics based on gender

By the Code, males are expected to guard their respect and respond aggressively to any challenge

By the Code, females are respected based on their attractiveness than aggressiveness

The Code of the street is more important to the male role in society than to the female role

What Produced the Code of the Street?

Produced by a profound sense of alienation from mainstream society and its institutions

Experienced more by poor inner-city minorities, especially among the young

Constitutes a form of cultural adaptation to a complete lack of rust in social control systems of society such as the police and the criminal justice system.

Even promoted in some families that are ambivalent about street codes out of the necessity of protection from and avoidance of street violence associated with ignorance of the Code.

Why is there a Code of the Street?