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.

The 6th Street Boys and their legal entanglements -- The art of running -- When the police knock your door in -- Turning legal troubles into personal resources -- The social life of criminalized young people -- The market in protections and privileges -- Clean people.