On the Run

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Forty years in, the War on Drugs has done almost nothing to prevent drugs from being sold or used, but it has nonetheless created a little known surveillance state in America s most disadvantaged neighborhoods Arrest quotas and high tech surveillance techniques criminalize entire blocks, and transform the very associations that should stabilize young lives family, relationships, jobs into liabilities, as the police use such relationships to track down suspects, demand information, and threaten consequences Alice Goffman spent six years living in one such neighborhood in Philadelphia, and her close observations and often harrowing stories reveal the pernicious effects of this pervasive policing Goffman introduces us to an unforgettable cast of young African American men who are caught up in this web of warrants and surveillance some of them small time drug dealers, others just ordinary guys dealing with limited choices All find the web of presumed criminality, built as it is on the very associations and friendships that make up a life, nearly impossible to escape We watch as the pleasures of summer evening stoop sitting are shattered by the arrival of a carful of cops looking to serve a warrant we watch and can t help but be shocked as teenagers teach their younger siblings and cousins how to run from the police and, crucially, to keep away from friends and family so they can stay hidden and we see, over and over, the relentless toll that the presumption of criminality takes on families and futures While not denying the problems of the drug trade, and the violence that often accompanies it, through her gripping accounts of daily life in the forgotten neighborhoods of America s cities, Goffman makes it impossible for us to ignore the very real human costs of our failed response the blighting of entire neighborhoods, and the needless sacrifice of whole generations. Read On the Run – kino-fada.fr I ll start this off with a compliment Alice Goffman is a phenomenal writer She tells stories and weaves a narrative that paints a vivid image of urban poverty, crime, and the failings of the criminal justice system in a striking and captivating way, and deserves credit for that This book reads quickly and is fairly enjoyable given the subject matter.The problem is in her methodology and the choices she made in writing this book Goffman is a sociologist, and in spite of reading like it was wr I ll start this off with a compliment Alice Goffman is a phenomenal writer She tells stories and weaves a narrative that paints a vivid image of urban poverty, crime, and the failings of the criminal justice system in a striking and captivating way, and deserves credit for that This book reads quickly and is fairly enjoyable given the subject matter.The problem is in her methodology and the choices she made in writing this book Goffman is a sociologist, and in spi...This is it This book perfectly encapsulates what is wrong with our society It shows what is wrong with the war in drugs, the stop and frisk laws, and the error of having intimidate and arrest be our go to response to societal and economic problems Read this.On the Run is an incredibly authentic look at an emblematic neighborhood in Philly wherethan half the men at some point have a warrant out for their arrest, causing them to be on the run On the run from the police On the run from parole officers On the run from the courts On the run from girlfriends On the run from those who would use their vulnerability to victimize them.This is the world behind the statistical sketch Alice Goffman paints in her preface Briefly, the US locks up five On the Run is an incredibly authentic look at an emblematic neighborhood in Philly wherethan half the men at some point have a warrant out for the...Working as an appellate defender i.e an attorney who represents indigent criminal defendants on appeals gives one an interesting perspective on life in the inner city I ve read hundreds of trial transcripts and looked at lots of photos and videos, getting a partial but distanced look at a clientele whose lives are vastly different than mine Sociologist Alice Goffman s new book is a field study that sheds light and fills in gaps in my knowledge about the lives of the young black men that are Working as an appellate defender i.e an attorney who represents indigent criminal defendants on appeals gives one an interesting perspective on life in the inner city I ve read hundreds of trial transcripts and looked at lots of photos and videos, getting a partial but distanced look at a clientele whose lives are vastly different than mine Sociologist Alice Goffman s new book is a field study that sheds light and fills in gaps in my knowledge about the lives of the young black men that are the primary clients of public defenders in urban areas Goffman spent over six years with a group of young men and mothers and sisters, etc whose lives are spent in constant fear of arrest and harassment by the police This explains the word...I dinged this one star because there is a bit too much repetition of the lessons learned at the end of each chapter I suspect that is because about 2 3 of this book is a dissertation But the author is an excellent reporter of what it is like for people of color in the inner city in Philadelphia, and in addition the final third of the book, about what it was like for her personally to become so immersed in this experience, is very powerful Anyone who cares about The New Jim Crow and the im I dinged this one star because there is a bit too much repetition of the lessons learned at the end of each chapter I suspect that is because about 2 3 of this book is a dissertation But the author is an excellent reporter of what it is like for people ...Statistics from the introduction Black people make up 13% of the US population, but account for 37% of the prison population Among Black men, one in nine are in prison, compared with less than 2% of white young men Approximately 60% of Black men who did not finish high school will go to prison by their mid thirties A chronicle of life in an urban neighborhood of Philadelphia where Black residents living under police surveillance is the norm Goffman obtains a job in food service at her sc Statistics from the introduction Black people make up 13% of the US population, but account for 37% of the prison population Among Black men, one in nine are in prison, compared with less than 2% of white young men Approximately 60% of Black men who did not finish high school will go to prison by their mid thirties A chronicle of life in an urban neighborhood of Philadelphia where Black residents living under police surveill...This is a great book, I hope a lot of people read it and get educated on what s happening in segregated, low income black neighborhoods, and in turn I hope that enacts policy change I d heard about the new jim crow before, but didn t know much about it I assumed it was activist language threaded with a bit of truth for instance, I knew POC were muchlikely to be charged with drug possession than whites , but Goffman s years long research and observation draws into focus how accurate th This is a great book, I hope a lot of people read it and get educated on what s happening in segregated, low income black neighborhoods, and in t...A very engaging ethnography as a college student, the author moved to the inner city and spent her time hanging out with a group of young black men often on the run from the law The book is a good look into how heavy policing affects all aspects of individual and community life And the author is a good storyteller so it makes for engaging reading Since she writes about one social network it s hard to tell how representative this is, and I think the criticism that the author herself got in t A very engaging ethnography as a college student, the author moved to the inner city and spent her time hanging out with a group of young black men often on the run from the law The book is a good look into how heavy policing affects all aspects of individual and community life And the author is a good storyteller so it makes for engaging reading Since she writes about one social network it s hard to tell how representative this is, and I think the criticism that the au...I devoured this 260 page book in two days Coincidentally, my library request for it came through just as I was finishing Behind the Beautiful Forevers, and I thought the two would make for an interesting comparison In a way they are quite similar works immersive works by women about a culture not their own But while Katherine Boo hides the stitching in her work erasing her own presence and narrating events as if her book were a novel, Goffman s book is first and foremost an academic work of I devoured this 260 page book in two days Coincidentally, my library request for it came through just as I was finishing Behind the Beautiful Forevers, and I thought the two would make for an interesting comparison In a way they are quite similar works immersive works by women about a culture not their own But while Katherine Boo hides the stitching in her work erasing her own presence and narrating events as if her book were a novel, Goffman s book is first and foremost an academic work of sociology, and she is quite forthright about her own presence as a participant observer, even concluding the book with a 50 page Methodological Note that explains how she got involved in the project and how the experience has...Super depressing The War on Drugs, the prison industry, militarization of police, parole add it all up and you have a system of racial control Parole especially Fuck a piss test Why should anyone have to take a drug test, ever The number of situations where this seems legitimate is vanishingly small Pilots maybe, people operating heavy equipment, cases where you d ideally administer an sobriety test on the spot but it s not cost effective Other than that, fuck a piss test.Let s end th Super depressing The War on Drugs, the prison industry, militarization of police, parole add it all up and you have a system of racial...

On the Run
  • English
  • 13 February 2017
  • Hardcover
  • 277 pages
  • 022613671X
  • Alice Goffman
  • On the Run