The street crime paradox

This article draws on ethnographic data from Sweden, Denmark, and Norway
to examine movement into and out of street crime. Based on participant observations and interviews with individuals involved in drug dealing and other
street crimes, we show that some of the very same aspects of street life that
attract individuals, most notably community, violence, and drugs, also motivate attempts to leave it. We conceptualize this dynamic as the street crime
paradox. Drawing on Georges Bataille, we argue that these aspects constitute
heterogeneous social domains marked by excess, collective effervescence, and
contradictory forces of attraction and repulsion. By foregrounding this paradox,
the article offers an ethnographic and theoretical framework for understanding
criminal trajectories as non-linear, volatile, and emotionally charged.