DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

OFF ICE OF JUSTICE PROGRAMS

BJA NI J OJJDP BJS OVC

R e s e a r c h P r e v i e w

National Institute of Justice

Jeremy Travis, Director

U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

National Institute of Justice

R e s e a r c h i n P r o g r e s s S e m i n a r S e r i e s

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Adolescent Violence: A View From the Street

Summary of a Presentation by Jeffrey Fagan, Ph.D., Center for Violence Research and Prevention

January 1998

Typically, studies on violence have focused on propensity,

that is, on who is or is not likely to become violent. But

propensity models do not account for the transactional,

contingent nature of violence or for within-person variability

over time or place. Further, they cannot explain the occurrence or nonoccurrence of a violent event—that mixture of

motivation, context, and facilitation that channels arousal or

other actions into actual violence or the failure of an event

to escalate to violence despite the presence of the dynamic factors that would make it likely.

Researchers at Columbia University’s Center for Violence

Research and Prevention are conducting a qualitative,

multistage study on adolescent violence that draws strategically from theories of cognitive and developmental

psychology to construct a situational framework for understanding violent behavior. Cosponsors of this research

include the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), the Centers

for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National

Science Foundation (NSF), and the Harry Frank

Guggenheim Foundation.

Methodology

The research design includes three samples of young

men, ages 16 to 24, with histories of involvement in violent

activities and currently (or, if incarcerated, formerly)

residing in two of New York City’s highest youth homicide

rate neighborhoods—East New York (Brooklyn) and Mott

Haven (South Bronx). The criminal justice sample includes

young men convicted on gun-related charges and incarcerated in the Rikers Island Correctional Facility and facilities

under the auspices of the New York State Division for Youth

Facilities. The second sample consists of victims of violence identified in the emergency rooms of two hospitals,

one near each of the two neighborhoods. The community

sample consists of young men who are involved in violence

but have avoided both the criminal justice system and the

emergency room.

To date, 150 subjects, primarily from the criminal justice

and community samples, have been interviewed and their

responses transcribed. Interviews were conducted by

“street smart” young men who are a few years older than

sample members, are from the neighborhoods where

subjects were recruited, and are role models for avoiding

serious violence. The interview protocol sought narrative

responses to structured questions regarding general

information (respondent’s family, school, work, and problem

behavior), perceptions of social interactions in the community (including dealings with the police), and the details of

two violent and two near-violent events during the past 2

years in which the respondent participated as (1) an armed

perpetrator or victim, and (2) an unarmed perpetrator or

victim. Information was requested on the social context of

these events and the strategic decisions the subjects made

that led them to engage in or withdraw from a situation, as

well as decisions made once a violent episode had begun.

Interviews were tape recorded and transcribed. Findings

from these first 150 interviews are presented here.

Findings

Preliminary analyses focused on three areas: (1) the

functions, contexts, and variability of violence; (2) an

assessment of the “code of the streets,” a sociocultural

structure that establishes rules, motivations, and justifications for engaging in violence in poor and socially isolated

neighborhoods; and (3) the role of alcohol and other drugs

in violent events. In addition, the study tried to determine

how the subjects avoided potentially violent confrontations.

Variability and function of violence. The study confirmed

that respondents were involved in a wide range of violent acts

in diverse social contexts. Violent events have different

motivations, meanings, and outcomes depending on context:

■ Gang conflicts, both within gangs and between rival gangs.

■ Neighborhood and ethnic conflicts, often over “turf.”
Points of view in this document do not necessarily reflect the

official position of the U.S. Department of Justice.

FS 000189

This summary is based on a presentation by Jeffrey

Fagan, Ph.D., Director for the Center for Violence

Research and Prevention at Columbia University’s

School of Public Health, to an audience of researchers

and criminal justice practitioners. His coinvestigator is

Deanna L. Wilkinson. The seminar, Adolescent Violence:

A View From the Street, is available as a 60-minute

videotape for $19 ($24 in Canada and other countries).

Use the order form on the next page to obtain this

videotape, NCJ 163059, and any of the others available

in NIJ’s Research in Progress Seminar Series.

■ Continuing feuds between individuals over perceived

insults or disrespect.

■ Disputes over girlfriends.

■ Acquisitive violence, such as extortion and robbery.

■ Preemptive or strategic violence, i.e., “I’m going to get

him before he gets me.”

■ Dating violence.

■ Ritualized violence, e.g., gang initiations.

The most compelling function that violence served in the

lives of respondents was to achieve and maintain status as

a “tough” person—a reputation that conferred social power

and dominance and protected the young men against

victimization. Violence was also seen as a means to

acquire the accouterments of wealth (e.g., nice clothes,

flashy cars, or access to clubs), control or humiliate

another person, defy authority, settle drug-related “business” disputes, attain retribution, satisfy the need for thrills

or risktaking, and respond to challenges to one’s manhood.

Violence as a code of behavior. The study found that

identities and normative behavioral codes were situationspecific. Many young men alternated their demeanor

between “decent” and “street” codes of behavior, language,

and dress. Both orientations lived side by side within the

same individuals. The street code’s rules for getting and

maintaining respect through aggressive behavior forced

many “decent” youths to situationally adopt a tough demeanor and perhaps behave violently in order to navigate

through an otherwise hostile and possibly dangerous

environment. The reaction of bystanders is a key factor in

the outcome of a situation. Bystanders can cool off or heat

up the response to a confrontation or dispute. Repeated

violent interactions can motivate a person’s strategic

decisionmaking to internalize a street code. The pressure

of guns often escalates the stakes of a dispute and increases its potential lethality.

Alcohol, drugs, and violence. Alcohol and drugs can

influence social interactions in two ways that may lead to

violence. First, alcohol can shape the dynamics, decisions,

and strategies in a violent or near-violent episode—that is,

interactions in which one or both individuals have been

drinking will turn out differently than those in which one or

both are sober. The second is that the context in which

drinking occurs exerts independent effects on how violent

or near-violent events unfold.

Respondents reported that intoxication increased the

likelihood that a person’s language would become provocative and boastful turning minor disputes into violent

encounters. Alcohol exaggerated the sense of outrage over

perceived transgressions of personal codes, resulting in

violence to exert control or exact retribution. Some drinkers

acted on bystanders’ provocations to fight more seriously;

others felt invincible and started fights that they then lost. In

addition, certain bars or bodegas were frequent scenes of

violence, regardless of who was present or how much

alcohol had been consumed: being in the wrong place at

the wrong time resulted in injuries, including gunshot

wounds, to a number of respondents.

The effects of drugs on violence were much less clear.

Marijuana made some subjects less prone to violence,

others sought out victims to exploit or dominate, and still

others became paranoid—either avoiding human contact

or becoming hostile and prone to defensive violence.

Circumstances tended to overtake the effects of drugs; that

is, if a fight broke out, even the most relaxed and “mellow”

individual would immediately snap out of his stupor to

defend himself.

Some respondents blamed their violent behavior on

alcohol or drugs, and others did not. A number of young

men used alcohol or drugs after violent events as a form of

self-medication.

Avoiding violence. Even under the influence of alcohol,

some youths were able to walk away from violence.

Researchers repeatedly heard stories of “graceful” and

strategic retreats from violence by persons able to simultaneously pay respect to the other party and maintain their

own status. This took verbal skills and mental agility in the

midst of a scene where both parties showed anger and

arousal—cognitive abilities that not everyone possesses.

Interventions for the future

The researchers concluded that classroom instruction in

conflict resolution skills is generally ineffective when

practiced in the neutral, unemotional context of a classroom. The findings of this study indicate that adolescents

should be taught negotiating and conflict avoidance skills

under conditions that mimic the street—that is, under

emotional states that stimulate unpredictable behavior.

Role playing can help participants better understand the

provocative and steering behaviors of bystanders and

other third parties. Bystanders can also learn how their

behavior can increase the risks of lethal violence for young

men facing off on the street.
To order any of these tapes, please complete and return this form with your payment ($19, U.S.; $24, Canada and

other countries) to National Criminal Justice Reference Service, P.O. Box 6000, Rockville, MD 20849–6000.

Call 800–851–3420, or e-mail askncjrs@ncjrs.org if you have any questions.

Please send me the following tapes:

Qty. Presenter Name and NCJ Number Subtotal

 

 

 

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Name 

Address 

City State ZIP Daytime phone ( ) 

___ Payment enclosed (U.S. dollars) ___ Deduct this item from my NCJRS Deposit Account, account no. 

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✂

The Latest Criminal Justice

Videotape Series from NIJ:

Research in Progress Seminars

Learn about the latest developments in criminal justice research from prominent criminal justice experts.

Each 60-minute tape presents a well-known scholar discussing his or her current studies and how

they relate to existing criminal justice research and includes the lecturer’s responses to audience questions.

In addition to Adolescent Violence: A View From the Street, reported on in this Research Preview, the other tapes

available in VHS format are:

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Albany: The Cycle of Violence Revisited Six Years

Later.

NCJ 153273—Wesley Skogan, Ph.D.,

Professor, Northwestern University:

Community Policing in Chicago: Fact or Fiction?

NCJ 153850—Scott H. Decker, Ph.D.,

Professor, University of Missouri–St. Louis,

and Susan Pennell, San Diego Association of

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NCJ 154277—Terrie Moffitt, Ph.D.,

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Hispanic Populations: Implications for Crime and

Delinquency in the Next Decade.

NCJ 156924—Robert Sampson, Ph.D.,

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and Crime: A Study in Chicago.

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Professor, University of Virginia: Mental

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Ph.D., and Dean G. Kilpatrick, Ph.D.,

Medical University of South Carolina:

Prevalence and Consequences of Child Victimization: Preliminary Results from the National

Survey of Adolescents.

NCJ 159739—Joel H. Garner, Ph.D.,

Research Director, Joint Centers for Justice

Studies: Use of Force By and Against the Police.

NCJ 159740—Kim English, Research

Director, Colorado Division of Criminal

Justice: Managing Adult Sex Offenders in

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NCJ 160765—Michael Tonry, Ph.D.,

Professor, University of Minnesota: Ethnicity,

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NCJ 160766—David M. Kennedy, Ph.D.,

Professor, Harvard University: Juvenile Gun

Violence and Gun Markets in Boston.

NCJ 161259—Robert Crutchfield, Ph.D.,

Professor, University of Washington:

Labor Markets, Employment, and Crime.

NCJ 161836—Geoff Alpert, Ph.D.,

Professor, University of South Carolina:

Police in Pursuit: Policy and Practice.

NCJ 163056—Daniel Brookoff, M.D., Ph.D.,

Associate Director of Medical Education,

Methodist Hospital, Memphis, TN: Drugs,

Alcohol, and Domestic Violence in Memphis.

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NCJ 163057—Marcia Chaiken, Ph.D.,

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Law Enforcement.

NCJ 163058—Eric Wish, Ph.D., Director,

Center for Substance Abuse Research,

University of Maryland: Dependence and Drug

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NCJ 163921—Patricia Tjaden, Ph.D., Senior

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NCJ 164262—Andrew Golub, Ph.D.,

Principal Research Associate, National

Development and Research Institutes, Inc.:

Crack’s Decline: Some Surprises Across U.S. Cities.

NCJ 164725—Ronald Huff, Ph.D.,

Professor, Ohio State University: Criminal

Behavior of Gang Members.

NCJ 164726—James Austin, Ph.D.,

Executive Vice President, National Council

on Crime and Delinquency: Sentencing

Guidelines: A State Perspective.

NCJ 165585—Garen Wintemute, M.D.,

Director, Violence Prevention Research

U.S. Department of Justice

Office of Justice Programs

National Institute of Justice

Washington, DC 20531

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Program, University of California–Davis:

Predicting Criminal Behavior Among Authorized

Purchasers of Handguns.

NCJ 167027—Lorraine Green Mazerolle,

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NCJ 167028—Stephen Mastrofski, Ph.D.;

Roger B. Parks, Ph.D.; Albert J. Reiss, Jr.,

Ph.D.; Robert E. Worden, Ph.D.: Community Policing in Action: Lessons from an

Observational Study.