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- Title
The Carceral State and the Crucible of Black Politics: An Urban History of the Rockefeller Drug Laws.
- Authors
Fortner, Michael Javen
- Abstract
While scholars have illuminated the effects of mass incarceration, the origins of the criminal justice policies that produced these outcomes remain unclear. Many explanations obscure as much as they reveal—in great measure because they either ignore or minimize the consequences of crime. Emphasizing the exploitation of white fears, the construction of black criminality, or the political strategies of Republican political elites, prevailing theories ignore black crime victims. In order to excavate the historical roots of the modern carceral state, this study traces the development of New York State's Rockefeller drug laws. Rather than beginning in Albany, this history focuses on Harlem, a community hit hardest by rising crime rates and drug addiction. Drawing upon a variety of primary sources, this study traces how African American activists framed and negotiated the incipient drug problem in their neighborhoods and interrogates the policy prescriptions they attached to indigenously constructed frames. It describes how middle-class African Americans facing the material threats of crime and crime-related problems drew upon the moral content of indigenous class categories to understand these threats and develop policy prescriptions. It reveals how the black middle class shaped the development of this punitive policy and played a crucial role in the development of mass incarceration.
- Subjects
NEW York (State); UNITED States; DRUGS of abuse laws; DRUG laws; CRIME statistics; LEGAL status of people with drug addiction; PEOPLE with drug addiction; DRUG addiction; CRIMINAL law; AFRICAN American prisoners; IMPRISONMENT -- Law &; legislation; IMPRISONMENT; PRISONERS
- Publication
Studies in American Political Development, 2013, Vol 27, Issue 1, p14
- ISSN
0898-588X
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1017/S0898588X13000011