This essay looks at the unintended consequences of efforts to reform the criminal justice system. For a generation, much of New York City’s crime grew out of open-air drug markets. Here’s an excerpt from a 2005 description of such a market:

Open-air markets represent the lowest level of the drug distribution network. Low-level markets need to be tackled effectively not only because of the risks posed to market participants, but also to reduce the harms that illicit drug use can inflict on the local community. This guide begins by describing the problem and reviewing factors that increase the risks of drug dealing in open-air markets. The guide then identifies a series of questions that might assist you in analyzing your local open-air drug market problem. Finally, the guide reviews responses to the problem and what is known about these from evaluative research and police practice.

As with any other type of commodity, illicit drugs are traded in a market where buyer and seller have to locate one another in order to conduct a transaction.1 There are two types of retail market systems: those that are person-specific, relying on social networks to communicate information about vendors, potential customers, their location and prices; and those that are place-specific.2 Open-air drug markets operate in geographically well-defined areas at identifiable times so buyers and sellers can locate one another with ease. A variety of drugs may be sold, most commonly to include: heroin, crack, cocaine, and marijuana.

Open-air markets are also likely to be open markets. This means that there will be few barriers to access, and anyone who looks like a plausible buyer will be able to purchase drugs.3 An open market has advantages for both buyers and sellers. Buyers know where to go in order to find the drugs that they want and can weigh quality against price, and sellers are able to maximize customer access. However, the nature of open markets means that market participants are vulnerable both to police enforcement, and the dangers of buying from strangers—which may include rip-offs and robbery. Furthermore, if a buyer is dissatisfied with the transaction, there can rarely be any recompense as participants in illegal markets lack the usual means for resolving business conflicts. Especially in high value markets, this can lead to systemic violence—whereby force is the normal means by which disagreements are resolved.4

Such markets also frequently involved young (that is, under 18) participants actively engaged in various roles in narcotics distribution. Such markets, and those who worked them, wracked such havoc on urban America for so long it’s easy to forget that open-air drug markets haven’t always been with us–they had to be invented. And it seems likely that New York City is where that invention happened.

In this essay, you will be looking at what historians call primary sources.  A primary source is something produced at the time. We will be looking at three primary sources for this paper.

1. “Waiting for the Man.” A popular rock song from 1967 by the band the Velvet Underground, written by Lou Reed that captures–from the perspective of a white heroin consumer–the nature of drug dealing before the invention of open-air drug markets. Lyrics can be found here; the song itself can be heard here.
2. “The Quarter Kids.” This 1978 article from a law enforcement trade journal called Law & Order (the ads alone will fascinate you) was written by a police detective who was also a graduate student in Sociology at the time. It is the first reference I’ve been able to find of open-air drug markets with underage participants. You can find this article under “course materials” on our Blackboard site.
3. New York Times article 01/13/72. An article about policy changes at the NYPD in the wake of the Knapp Hearings. You can find this article under “course materials” on our Blackboard site.

This assignment has two parts: (1) an evidence gathering component and (2) the essay itself.

EVIDENCE GATHERING

Answer the following questions (your answers here should be part of the same document you submit with your essay; the questions here can be answered with a sentence or two):

1. Does “Waiting for the Man” suggest drug dealing occurred mostly indoor or outdoors? What evidence can you point to in order to answer the question?
2. Does “Waiting for the Man” suggest drug dealing occurred mostly between strangers in a context of multiple dealers and multiple consumers, or mostly between people who knew each other on a one-to-one basis? What evidence can you point to in order to answer the question?
3. “The Quarter Kids” makes reference to the consequences of a recent legal change. What are those consequences, what is the legal change, and how did that change produce the consequences? What evidence can you point to in order to answer the question?
4. “The Quarter Kids” makes reference to the consequences of the Knapp Commission. What are that consequences and how did the Commission produce the consequences (according to the author)? What evidence can you point to in order to answer the question?

THE ESSAY ITSELF

In this essay, answer the following question:

How did well-intentioned efforts to reform the criminal justice system lead to open-air drug markets staffed by under-age participants?

Writing Requirements

1. Length: 350-550 words  (about 1.5-2.25 pages of 12-point, double-spaced font)

2. You will want to organize around your essay around a concise thesis statement that appears near the beginning of your paper.

3. Be sure to underline your thesis statement (five points off if you do not).

4. Be sure to have at least eight direct quotations, with at least two direct quotations coming from each of the primary sources. And so, yes, that means the material you have already identified in part 1 (evidence gathering) will now reappear in part 2 (the essay). There are two parts because I want you to focus on (1) identifying appropriate evidence and then (2) deploying it in the essay itself. (eight points off if you do not).

5. When using direct quotations from the sources, be sure to use method 3 or 4 from HW 1 and also be sure to reduce your quotations to ten for fewer words. See here on how to reduce quotations. (five points off if you do not).

6.  When making your arguments, be sure to ground those arguments in specific evidence from the sources. (14 points off if you do not).

7.   Be sure in those paragraphs where you make points from evidence to organize those paragraph in the familiar cl/ev/wa format from HW 1 and that you put a (CL) in front of your paragraph’s claim, an (EV) before the evidence, and a (WA) in front of the warrant.  (Keep in mind: (A) not all paragraphs should be in cl/ev/wa format–just those that make a point from evidence. Introductions and conclusions, for example, rarely present evidence; also keep in mind (B) that the cl/ev/wa format is for organizing individual paragraphs rather than for organizing whole papers. A strong paper will likely have a series of cl/ev/wa paragraphs as well as a number of paragraphs that are not in that format.) (14 points off if you do not).