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Overall Summary

Ghettoside, written by Jill Leovy and published in 2015, follows the investigation of and trial for the murder of Bryant Tennelle, the son of a Los Angeles homicide detective. In doing so, it examines black-on-black crime to explain why there are higher rates of homicide in the black community as compared with other communities. The book’s central thesis is that “where the criminal justice system fails to respond vigorously to violent injury and death, homicide becomes endemic.” As a result of this failure over time, even blacks themselves have come to believe that their lives aren’t worth much. Therefore they become targets for violence. Leovy uses Tennelle’s murder to demonstrate how strong responses can reduce crime in any community.

On a Friday night in May, Bryant Tennelle, the son of Wallace “Wally” Tennelle, was walking home with his friend Walter Lee Bridges when he was struck by gunfire and later died. The case immediately drew attention because Wally is an LAPD homicide detective who works for RHD (Robbery and Homicide Division). He knew that getting special treatment would be unfair to other detectives working on cases so he secretly preferred to have another division investigate it.

Initially, Armando Bernal is assigned the case. However, after he fails to make any progress on it, legendary detective John Skaggs steps in and takes over. He eventually solves the case with a break by an officer who finds the gun used in the crime and his persistence at solving cases. During this time, Devin Davis and Derrick Starks are arrested for their involvement in the crime. The trial doesn’t go as smoothly because of how strong Skaggs’ evidence is against them; they’re both convicted of murder and sent to jail for life without parole.

Bryant Tennelle’s case is part of a larger picture of crime in the south side of Los Angeles, which includes law enforcement. Bryant’s father was an experienced detective during a time when there were many homicides and he had to learn on his own through experience. John Skaggs also worked as a homicide detective during another period with high murder rates, but he trained new detectives to ensure that they would be able to solve cases. The book mentions other cases involving smaller crimes such as drug dealing or domestic violence. These cases led to convictions because police officers like Skaggs took them seriously and did not ignore them like they might have been ignored if someone else was investigating them.

The author’s argument is that the community itself plays a key role in black-on-black crime. The ways communities react to violence, such as through communal justice systems and shadow legal systems, are determined by their history of lawlessness. In addition, people living in these places historically have not been valued highly by society or law enforcement. Therefore, they do not feel safe and don’t trust police officers to help them when they need it most.

Part 1, Chapter 1: “A Circle of Grief”

The book begins with Detective John Skaggs, who is a central character in the story. He returns shoes to Dovon Harris’s mother, Barbara Pritchett. The author describes them as “strangely paired” because they are so different from each other: Skaggs is an upper middle-class white Republican police officer while Pritchett is a Democrat whose family migrated from Louisiana cotton pickers and settled in Los Angeles during the 1960s. However, both of them are similar in that their lives have been affected by murders among black men—a plague that has shaped their lives in very different ways.