Putting in Work: Black Male Youth Joblessness, Violence, Crime, and the Code of the Street

Abstract

In response to the structural barriers that block many Black male youth from legitimate employment opportunities, some have redefined the concept of work. Engaging in violence and crime is perceived among some marginalized young Black men as a form of labor where violence and other illicit activities are treated as work. Through our contextual analysis of words and behaviors as analytic units, the colloquial street term “putting in work” captures how some young Black men enmeshed in the culture of the street frame violence and crime as work. Using Anderson’s code of the street as a theoretical framework, we explore the multiple ways Black male youth offenders “work to get known” on the street. Drawing on focus groups conducted among 15 Black male serious violent youth offenders adjudicated in adult criminal court and detained in an adult jail, this paper explores the concept “putting in work.”