Some might say that in neighborhoods plagued by drugs and violence, the police have little choice but to arrest large numbers of young men and zealously run down outstanding warrants, particularly when those on the run may carry guns, become involved in serious violence, and/or deal drugs in the neighborhood. But around 6th street the street trade in drugs, neighborhood rivalries, and their potential for violence are all deeply woven into community life (201).
Alice Goffman, a student from the University of Pennsylvania attending an urban ethnographic class for undergraduates, and was assigned an assignment to study an urban life through firsthand qualitative methods. Through a series of trials she intended to study the people at an independent movie rental store in downtown Philadelphia. However, because she had no knowledge of films she wasn 't granted the job to work there making it impossible to observe the workers of the film store. Nonetheless she searched for another place where she can do her studies. The next place was the University of Pennsylvania (Penn 's) cafeteria campus. Alice successfully wrote her final paper for her
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On the run, a case study of fugitive life in an American city was published on April 2015. It 's a story about Alice 's experience in Philadelphia, over a six year time period observing a group of African American young men that were entangled with the law in a negative manner. Alice introduces us to Mike, Reggie, Chuck, and others who feared incarceration, being left alone, and injustice. She allows us to vividly see the nights she spent talking to these boys and their families on the stoop of their house, graphically picturing the police officers knocking down the doors of their household in search for one of them, and the devastation it brought to many families. This book became a guideline for fugitive on the run, a shock to those not exposked to this way of living, and an eye opener to all including the police force