Code Of The Street: Inner City Community

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The “Code of the Street,” materialized in American’s major metropolitan inner city communities’ predominately homogeneous African American neighborhoods because segments of this population felt disenfranchised from mainstream American due to lack of economic opportunities as well as the distrust between citizens in these communities toward law enforcement. The common belief in among a minority of the population in these neighborhoods is that the criminal justice system is bias toward poor minority groups and every person must fend for himself or herself. Therefore, urban communities have developed a set of socially acceptable norms within these distressed communities coined the “Code of the Street.” The evening news has not coined the term, but it is broadcasted almost every night on the evening news showing footage of gun violence that has plagued America’s inner …show more content…

This is not hyperbole it’s a fact of life for those living in these communities. Young African American males in order to maintain a level of respect among their peers implement the principles of the “Code of the Street.” Unfortunately, a lot of people have fallen victim to gun violence and been killed or seriously wounded because of minutia incidents as well as gang and drug related encounters. The principles of the theory are pretty simple: A person must protect his or her reputation by not allowing others in the community to disrespect