Word: cracking
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
With the advent of crack, juvenile arrests in New York City tripled, from 386 in 1983 to 1,052 last year. Detroit-area police busted 647 youths last year, almost twice as many as in 1986. A staggering increase in juvenile drug arrests has occurred in Washington, jumping from 483 in 1983 to 1,894 in 1987. Four years ago, the number of drug arrests among Washington children under the age of twelve was zero...
...thugs who founded the crack trade recognized early on that young teens do not run the risk of mandatory jail sentences that courts hand out to older dealers. Because juveniles are rarely imprisoned for any great length of time, they provide a uniquely recyclable labor pool. "We have created a revolving door," says George Robinson, assistant district attorney for Fulton County, Ga., which covers Atlanta. "There is no provision under our law to mandate restrictive custody for these youths. They're selling drugs, and we're just spanking them on the hands...
...sneakers, bomber jacket or bicycle. The next step up the ladder is runner, a job that can pay more than $300 a day. This is the youngster who transports the drugs to the dealers on the street from the makeshift factories where cocaine powder is cooked into rock-hard crack. Finally, an enterprising young man graduates to the status of dealer, king of the street. In a hot market like New York City, an aggressive teenage dealer can make...
Many young dealers also use crack profits to help their struggling families -- and the extra cash that appears on the kitchen table can persuade parents to look the other way while their children are heading into trouble. Denise Robinson, founder of the Detroit community-action group Saving Our Kids, even recalls a mother who dissuaded her son from returning to high school. "He had been a good student. He had good grades," says Robinson. "((But)) he was making $600 a week dealing crack. So his mother wanted him to keep dealing." The incentive is powerful: "The kids...
Parents who are not bought off can be intimidated. A Washington-area woman called her minister for help when she discovered $40,000 and two semiautomatic weapons under her son's bed. In New York City, a recovering drug addict intervened when his mother found 400 crack vials in her younger son's coat pockets: "I told her if she throwed it away, she'd find her son dead...