Fred Warren "Ned"
Benton
Professor
Education
Ph.D. University of Illinois
Ed.M. University of Illinois
A.B. Grinnell College
Bio
Fred Warren “Ned” Benton is a Professor in the Department of Public Management at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. He served as the Chair of the Department of Public Management from 1989-2017, and as Director of the MPA Inspector General Program from 1987-2018. This program is the only Master of Public Administration program in the Unites States that concentrates expressly on inspection and oversight and the role of Inspectors General. A Charter Member of the Board of the Association of Inspectors General since it was formed in 1996, Benton became a Certified Inspector General in 2005.
Benton also served as the Chair of the Department of Public Management from 1989-2017 and served as the President of the John Jay College Faculty Senate from 2017-2023. For CUNY and the University Faculty Senate, Benton serves as the UFS faculty representative on the Board of Trustees Finance and Administration Committee, Investment Subcommittee, Audit Committee, and Technology and Planning Subcommittee.
Professor Benton is a co-director of the Northeast Slavery Records Index (opens in new window), which is searchable compilation of records that identify individual enslaved people in the northeast states (Pennsylvania to Maine) beginning as early as 1525 and ending during the Civil War.
He served from 2002 through 2018 as the Monitor in United States of America v. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The Monitor reports on compliance with a consent decree about youth corrections in Puerto Rico. Nominated by both parties in the case and appointed by the United States District Court, Benton’s position was independent of the parties in the case. He served in a similar role in U.S. v. Michigan from 1985-1998.
Before joining the faculty at John Jay College, Benton served as Director of the Oklahoma Department of Corrections from 1975-1979, and as the Director of Planning for the National Clearinghouse for Criminal Justice Planning and Architecture from 1972-1975.
He has extensive experience as a consultant to correctional agencies and to executive, legislative and judicial officials. From 1986-1992 he served as a Technical Consultant to the Tennessee State Building Commission and the Select Senate/House Oversight Committee on Corrections, and from 1997-2000 he served as the Senior Correctional Consultant to the Tennessee Commissioner of Finance and Administration.
Benton is also the author of books on computing, such as Execucomp: Maximum Management with the New Computers (John Wiley Publishers, 1983) which has received numerous awards and citations.
Scholarly Work
Benton, F.W. and Stoughton D., Evaluation of Correctional Officer Staff Deployment for the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (Syracuse,N.Y., Don Stoughtonand Associates, 1985).
Hellmuth, Obata, Kassabaum, Inc. The Missouri Corrections Master Plan (Saint Louis, Hellmuth, Obata, Kassabaum, Inc., 1984).
Benton F., and Stoughton, D., Evaluation of Staffing and Operations of the Calhoun County (Michigan)Jail (Syracuse, N.Y., Don Stoughton and Associates, 1983).
Stoughton, D. and Benton, F.W., Evaluation of Staffing and Operations of the Maine State Penitentiary (Syracuse, N.Y., Don Stoughton and Associates, 1983).
Stoughton, D. and Benton, F.W., Cortland County (NewYork) Jail andSheriff's Department: Analysis and Planning Report (Syracuse, N.Y., Don Stoughton and Associates, 1982).
Stoughton, D. and Benton, F.W., Essex County (NewYork) Jail and Sheriff's Department: Analysis and Planning Report (Syracuse, N.Y., Don Stoughton and Associates,1982).
Stoughton, D. and Benton, F.W., Evaluation of Staffing and Operations of the Missouri State Penitentiary (Syracuse, N.Y., Don Stoughton and Associates, 1982).
Benton, F.W., and Silberstein, J.A., "Explanatory Models of State Prison Expansion"; commissioned by the Panel on Sentencing Research of the National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council,1981.
Stoughton, D. and Benton, F.W., Evaluation of the Staffing and Operations of the Broward County Jail System (Syracuse, N.Y., Don Stoughton and Associates, 1981).
Ehrenkrantz Group, and Warren Benton (consultant to project), Borough Facilities Study [Study of detention facilities to replace Riker's Island complex] (New York, Ehrenkrantz Group, 1980).
EhrenkrantzGroup, Engineers-Architects P.C., American Institute of Criminal Justice, and Warren Benton (consultant to project) , North Dakota Correctional System Facility Study (NewYork, Ehrenkrantz Group, 1980).
Benton, F.W., (Project Director-Adult Corrections), and Silberstein, J.A., (Project Director-Juvenile Corrections), Nevada Corrections Master Plan. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois, 1975.
Benton, F.W., (Project Director), St. Joseph County Corrections Plan. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois, 1975.
Benton, F.W., (Project Director), Harris County Corrections Plan. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois, 1974.
Benton, F.W., (Project Director), Oklahoma Corrections Master Plan. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois, 1974.
Moyer, F., Benton F.W. et. al., Hawaii Predesign. Champaign, Illinois: Planning and Design Institute, 1974.
Moyer, F., Benton,F.W., et. al., Rhode Island Predesign. Champaign, Illinois: Planning and Design Institute,1974.
Maxey, J.W., and Benton, F.W., Mississippi Corrections Master Plan. Jackson, Mississippi, Office of the Governor, Law Enforcement Assistance Program, 1974.
Thomas,L., and Benton, F.W., South Carolina Adult Corrections Study. Columbia, South Carolina: Office of the Governor, Division of Criminal Justice Programs, 1974.
Benton, F.W., Some Effects of the Use of Closed Circuit Television Surveillance in Prisons. Dissertation, published as expanded in Prison and Jail Security, supra.
Research Summary
Professor Benton is a co-director of the Northeast Slavery Records Index (opens in new window), which is searchable compilation of records that identify individual enslaved people in the northeast states (Pennsylvania to Maine) beginning as early as 1525 and ending during the Civil War.
The online dataset is based on census records, slave trade transactions, cemetery records, birth certifications, manumissions, ship inventories, newspaper accounts, private narratives, legal documents and many other sources. The index contains over 100,000 records and will continue to grow as our team of John Jay College professors and students locates and assembles data from additional sources.
The goal is to deepen the understanding of slavery in the northeast by bringing together information that until now has been largely disconnected and difficult to access. This allows for searches that combine records from all indexed sources based on parameters such as the name of an owner, a place name, and date ranges.