Loterre: SAGE: codes of silence

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codes of silence

Though codes of silence have long been staple criminal norms, the recent evolution of the practice into the so-called Stop Snitching phenomenon has proven divisive in many cities and has been blamed for low clearance rates for serious violent crime, and for an increase in witness intimidation. Stop Snitching, like variants of codes of silence that have gone before, exhorts people involved in criminal and deviant activity to stay silent and not cooperate with law enforcement, much like La Cosa Nostra's code of omerta. [Source: Encyclopedia of Street Crime in America; Code of Silence/Stop Snitching]

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