Book Review: Klein, M. W., & Maxson, C. L. (2006). Street Gang Patterns and Policies. New York: Oxford University Press. xii pp., 310 pp

• Author: Timothy R. Lauger
• Published date: 01 December 2008
• Date: 01 December 2008
• DOI: 10.1177/0734016808321040
• Subject Matter: Articles

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Criminal Justice Review
perceived risk of action (chapter 7), and violence-avoidance actions (chapter 8). Placing the
explanatory variables aside, my major theoretical concern is whether violent retaliation can
best be understood by conceptualizing it as a dichotomous variable (violent or nonviolent
outcome); it seems to me that vengeance is one of many conceivable strategies of conflict
management and that viewing it in this way could provide more powerful insights into why
some situations produce violence and others do not. Black (1998), for instance, suggests
a typology with five forms of conflict management: (1) self-help, violent and nonviolent;
(2) settlement, formal and informal; (3) negotiation; (4) avoidance; and (5) toleration.
Rather than explain violence and nonviolence, why not explain self-help and also settle-
ment, negotiation, avoidance, and toleration? Taylor acknowledges these nonviolent forms
of social control (see, e.g., pp. 33, 56-57) but she does not attempt to explain them. What
should be questioned—whatever the answer—is whether more can be understood about
violence by explaining a dichotomy, such as the one used by Taylor, or by explaining a larger
grouping of related behaviors.
In closing, the major contribution of How Drug Dealers Settle Disputes is its explicit
focus on the nonviolent outcomes of drug trade-related conflicts; it may very well mark the
beginning of a new era of research dedicated to explaining nonviolent conflict management
in the illicit drug world.
Scott Jacques
University of Missouri—St. Louis
References
Black, D. (1998). The social structure of right and wrong (rev. ed.). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Denton, B. (2001). Dealing: Women in the drug economy. Sydney, Australia: UNSW Press.
Hoffer, L. D. (2006). Junkie business: The evolution and operation of a heroin dealing network. Belmont,
CA: Wadsworth.
Jacques, S., & Wright, R. (2008). The relevance of peace to studies of drug market violence. Criminology,
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