Newton earned a Ph.D. in the Social philosophy program of History of Consciousness from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1980. His doctoral dissertation entitled "War Against the Panthers: A Study of Repression in America" "analyzes certain features of the Party and incidents that are significant in its development", among which are how the United States federal government responded to the BPP as well as to the assassinations of Fred Hampton, Bunchy Carter, and John Huggins. Sources for material used to support the dissertation include two federal civil rights lawsuits. One suit was against the FBI and other government officials, while the other was initially against the City of Chicago.