U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Urban Graffiti: Crime, Control, and Resistance

NCJ Number
156918
Journal
Youth and Society Volume: 27 Issue: 1 Dated: (September 1995) Pages: 73-92
Author(s)
J Ferrell
Date Published
1995
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This analysis of contemporary graffiti writing incorporates data collected during the author's four years of active participant observation in the Denver graffiti underground, as well as interviews conducted with legal agents, political officials, and others in Denver, and visits to graffiti sites in cities throughout the U.S. and in Europe.
Abstract
The focus of this study, hip hop graffiti, illustrates the ways in which young people are resisting the structures of authority under which they are placed. Specifically, graffiti writers are resisting the increasing segregation and control of urban environments and undermining the efforts of legal and political agencies to control them. At the same time, graffiti writers are constructing alternative arrangements that shape both individual identities and communities of support and meaning. 11 notes and 130 references

Downloads

No download available

Availability