Crack dealers' apprehension avoidance techniques: A case of restrictive deterrence

Offending: Drug-related expertise and decision making

“…While there are some elements of opportunism (or impulsivity) in the burglary experts in Clare's (2011) study, their decision-making and that described by respondents in Jacobs (1996aJacobs ( , 1996b and is consistent with the notion of a rational expert, albeit one with bounded rationality (Johnson & Payne, 1986;Tunnell, 2002). Moreover, the decision-making of crack dealer respondents certainly suggested the use of fast and frugal heuristic strategies (Todd, 2002), whether in the course of arrest avoidance or attempting to detect police.…”

“…One of the most cited bodies of research investigating offender decision-making, and by extension expertise, in drug-related systemic crime is that undertaken by Jacobs, (1996aJacobs, ( , 1996b and which focused primarily on the methods used by crack cocaine dealers to handle drugs, drug buyers, and the environments in which drug dealing occurred as a means of minimizing police surveillance and decreasing apprehension risk. Undertaken in the US, the studies involved male and female dealers from the same region, all of whom were African American.…”

“…Undertaken in the US, the studies involved male and female dealers from the same region, all of whom were African American. Crack dealers sit at the lowest level of the drug trafficking hierarchy (Jacobs, 1996a(Jacobs, , 1996b and use an indiscreet method of dealing which is highly visible. Conducted at street level, dealers have a broad clientele with whom they are largely unfamiliar.…”

“…The behaviors described by the dealers represent well-rehearsed behavioral scripts (Cornish, 1994) describing how and when the secreted drugs are disposed of should the dealer be apprehended by police. Given the discrepancy between high volume dealing and rates of prosecution one can surmise some degree of expertise on the part of dealers (Jacobs, 1996a). Finally, transactional mediation involves a range techniques used to camouflage the actual drug-dealing activity (e.g., props, people, or sleight of hand).…”

“…That said, drug use has been identified as one of several outcomes in some studies investigating decisions to commit robbery (e.g., while in Clare's (2011) comparison of the perceptual and procedural skills of expert and novice burglars, drug use was found to be highly prevalent within the sample. By comparison, more attention has been paid to the role of decision making in the realm of systemic crime, in particular effective apprehension avoidance techniques (Jacobs, 1996a;, differentiating police officers from drug clients (Jacobs, 1996b), managing retaliation (Jacobs, Topalli, & Wright, 2000), and drug smuggling (Che & Benson, 2014).…”