Criminal Family Networks: Criminal Capital and Cost Avoidance among Urban Drug Sellers

ABSTRACT

This study explores: (1) how criminal family networks facilitate cost avoidance strategies by urban drug sellers and (2) transmission of criminal capital by these networks. Twenty interviews with drug sellers in Philadelphia found that family networks provided unique access to cost avoidance techniques that appeared to reduce offenders’ risk of arrest and violent victimization. Transfer of family criminal capital was not limited to mentoring and tutelage; these networks also allowed sellers to access the organizational structure at higher levels, inherit existing businesses, and make errors with few consequences. Extant theory could be advanced by considering social sources of criminal capital.

Acknowledgments

The author gratefully acknowledges the helpful feedback provided on a previous draft by: Sarah Boonstoppel, Paul Hirschfield, Christopher E. Kelly, Ralph B. Taylor, and anonymous reviewers. Any mistakes are my own.

Funding

This research was funded by the University at Albany’s Faculty Research Awards Program (FRAP).

Notes

¹ The interviews were conducted over 30 months because the researcher needed to travel from another state to conduct interviews. These stops and starts had no visible effect on the quality of the sample or validity of the interviews.

² Adler (1993) calls this method “middling.”

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the University at Albany’s Faculty Research Awards Program (FRAP).

Notes on contributors

Jamie J. Fader

JAMIE J. FADER is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at Temple University. Her interests lie in the intersection of crime, justice, and social inequalities.