The fight to close the Rikers Island Jail complex has received renewed attention since Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a plan last March to close down the facility in the next 10 years. Many have welcomed the moved, but one group has expressed resistance: correctional officers. In a recent article in the Daily News, Brooklyn College … Continue Reading ››
Tag Archives: mass incarceration
Michael Fortner Talks to Salon About 1994 Crime Bill & More
With #BlackLivesMatter bringing the 1994 Crime Bill back into the fore, and a competitive race for the Democratic presidential nomination that has placed Bill and Hillary Clinton's record back on trial in the court of public opinion, more people than ever are asking: what really happened in the 90s? How did we get here, into a world of … Continue Reading ››
More Press for Black Silent Majority
Murphy Prof. Michael Fortner's new book Black Silent Majority: the Rockefeller Drug Laws and the Politics of Punishment has taken the media world by storm, garnering press from publications, radio and television. In addition to coverage in the New Yorker and Chronicle of Higher … Continue Reading ››
New Yorker Coverage of Book by Prof. Michael Fortner
Murphy Institute Professor Michael Fortner's hotly anticipated new book Black Silent Majority: the Rockefeller Drug Laws and the Politics of Punishment gains yet more coverage with the latest edition of the New Yorker. In Kelefa Sanneh's review, Body Count, the writer places Fortner's book in conversation with the latest from Ta-Nehisi … Continue Reading ››
Crime, Punishment and the Black Community: the Untold Story of the Rockefeller Drug Laws
Next month marks the launch of Murphy Professor Michael Javen Fortner's eye-opening new book, Black Silent Majority: the Rockefeller Drug Laws and the Politics of Punishment. A controversial and important account of the role that some in the African-American community played in encouraging punitive policies during the 1970s, in particular the Rockefeller Drug … Continue Reading ››
Murphy Prof. Michael Fortner Publishes New Book on Politics of Punishment
Assistant Professor Michael Fortner, Academic Director of Urban Studies at the Murphy Institute, has a new book available for preorder on Amazon. Black Silent Majority: The Rockefeller Drug Laws and the Politics of Punishment will be formally released on September 7, 2015. As described on Amazon, “Black Silent Majority uncovers the role African … Continue Reading ››
