Street Justice

By Bruce A. Jacobs, Richard Wright,

Book cover of Street Justice: Retaliation in the Criminal Underworld

Book description

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…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked Street Justice as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Street Justice is a terrific ethnography on an issue too seldom talked about in criminal justice textbooks, namely, payback in the context of drug dealing.

Jacobs and Wright did not set out here for any new philosophical insights about revenge. Instead, they are interested in its reality. What emerges from this study is a stark catalog of how retaliation actually works, among real people, in a real American city, and what a chilling picture it is.

Based on interviews with actual St. Louis offenders who related their personal experiences with loss, pain, humiliation, and anger, Street Justice is an eye-opener…

From Jill's list on escaping the true-crime rut.

If you love Street Justice...

Ad

Book cover of Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor's Unlikely Adventure

Tap Dancing on Everest by Mimi Zieman,

Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctor—and only woman—on a remote Everest climb in Tibet.

The team attempts a new route up…

Want books like Street Justice?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 75 books like Street Justice.

Browse books like Street Justice

Book cover of Collision of Wills: How Ambiguity about Social Rank Breeds Conflict
Book cover of Police Power in the Italian Communes, 1228-1326
Book cover of Crime Control and Everyday Life in the Victorian City: The Police and the Public

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,885

readers submitted
so far, will you?

Ad

📚 If you like Street Justice, you might also like...

Book cover of Coma and Near-Death Experience: The Beautiful, Disturbing, and Dangerous World of the Unconscious

Coma and Near-Death Experience by Alan Pearce,

What happens when a person is placed into a medically-induced coma?

The brain might be flatlining, but the mind is far from inactive: experiencing alternate lives rich in every detail that spans decades, visiting realms of stunning and majestic beauty, or plummeting to the very depths of Hell while defying…

Book cover of Fourteen

Fourteen by Leslie Johansen Nack,

Fourteen is a coming-of-age adventure when, at the age of 14, Leslie and her two sisters have to batten down the hatches on their 45-foot sailboat to navigate the Pacific Ocean and French Polynesia, as well as the stormy temper of their larger-than-life Norwegian father.

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in Missouri, revenge, and gangs?

Missouri 41 books
Revenge 129 books
Gangs 27 books