Summary Of On The Run By Alice Goffman

In her book, On the Run: Fugitive Life in an American City, Alice Goffman provides a detailed account of the six years she spent living in and observing a poor, predominantly African American neighborhood in Philadelphia. This community, which she refers to as “6th Street,” directly experienced the immediate effects of mass incarceration in the United States. Thus, that reality caused 6th Street residents to shape their actions, socialization, customs and norms to avoid the police while simultaneously maintaining behaviors––that would otherwise be considered criminal––to survive in a rough and unforgiving environment. To further explore and to try to understand the conditions 6th Street inhabitants faced, Goffman conducted ethnographical research

Goffman often describes the young, African American men she encountered as always being “on the run.” She learns that just years after the boys of 6th Street learn how to walk or talk, they are taught how to run from the police. From that point on, everything they do or say is guided by the fact that they are fugitives, at risk of being locked up for, in most cases, minor offences. This fear of being sent to jail is not temporary, but it is something that follows males of 6th Street for all of their adult

Yet, three concrete examples of the fugitive behavior can be unearthed. First, Goffman begins the first chapter of the book explaining how one teen she got to know, Chuck, would teach his younger brother, Tim, how to run from the police during the afternoon (2015:9). This observation Goffman made is quite telling of the environment Chuck, Tim and other 6th Street boys lived in. While most American youth would be doing their homework or playing with other kids, Chuck and Tim used this time to learn how to run from the police before they even committed any crimes or legal offenses and while they were still innocents. Second, Goffman notes that police would often visit hospitals and check the names of patients or visitors for anyone that had warrants for their arrest. This practice was scary enough that 6th Street men would avoid seeking medical care, visiting loved ones or in Chuck’s case, witnessing the birth of his child (Goffman 2015:35). Clearly, there is a major problem when the generally undeserved threat of going to prison is so high that it causes men to neglect their physical health, caring for their relatives or experiencing the miracle of birth. Goffman notes that police also often held stakeouts at jails’ visitation centers, places of employment and even at funerals (2015:35). Third, Goffman says that in order to remain undetected by the police, 6th Street men became become displaced in