Black silent majority : the Rockefeller drug laws and the politics of punishment /
Rockefeller drug laws and the politics of punishment
Michael Javen Fortner.
- Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, (c)2015.
- 1 online resource (xii, 350 pages) : illustrations
Includes bibliographies and index.
Introduction : the reign of criminal terror must be stopped now -- Rights and wreckage in postwar Harlem -- Black junkies, White do-gooders, and the Metcalf-Volker Act of 1962 -- Reverend Dempsey's crusade and the rise of involuntary commitment in 1966 -- Crime, class, and conflict in the ghetto -- King heroin and the development of the drug laws in 1973 -- Race, place, and the tumultuous 1960s and 1970s -- Conclusion : liberal sentiments to conservative acts.
"Often seen as a political sop to the racial fears of white voters, aggressive policing and draconian sentencing for illegal drug possession and related crimes have led to the imprisonment of millions of African Americans--far in excess of their representation in the population as a whole. Michael Javen Fortner [argues] that these punitive policies also enjoyed the support of many working-class and middle-class blacks, who were angry about decline and disorder in their communities. [His book examines] the role African Americans played in creating today's system of mass incarceration"--Dust jacket flap.
9780674496088
Discrimination in criminal justice administration--New York (State) African American criminals--New York (State) Drug control--New York (State) African Americans--Social conditions.--New York (State) Middle class--New York (State)