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For more than three decades, Abraham J. Bonowitz has worked to educate the public about human rights problems, in particular the death penalty and the need for alternatives to the death penalty. During this time he served in numerous director, consultant, managerial, and activist roles with leading advocacy and death penalty abolitionist organizations.

This collection documents the seventeen-year period (1974-1991) concerning the Florida capital punishment case of Alvin Ford. The collection primarily contains the court records and research material of Ford's attorney, Laurin A. Wollan, Jr., as well as other members of the Ford defense team who began work on the case in 1981. The legal records include official court proceedings from the initial trial in 1974, appeals, attempts at clemency, and several cases by Ford against the Florida Department of Corrections. Other legal records include psychological reports, background reports, biographies of Ford, as well as his prison and medical records.

Bill Pelke is a leader in the national death penalty abolition movement. This collection documents Bill Pelke's involvement with Journey of Hope...from Violence to Healing, Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation (MVFR), National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (NCADP), Amnesty International, and other organizations committed to ending capital punishment in the United States.

The Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation Records document the organization's efforts to abolish the death penalty in all cases. The organization includes family members of both homicide victims and those executed as well as their respective supporter. Included in the collection are handwritten notes, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, brochures, booklets, programs, information packets, photographs, flyers, proofs, drafts, manuscripts, correspondence, memos, transcripts, mailing lists, schedules, meeting agenda, meeting minutes, meeting summaries, by-laws, manuals, checklists, worksheets, evaluation forms, resumes, applications, forms, financial summaries, budgets, contracts, court proceedings, legislative bills, amici curiae, memorabilia, audio/video materials.

The M. Watt Espy papers chronicle the extensive research efforts that led to the creation of the Capital Punishment Research Project and the database known as the Espy File. Espy spent three decades gathering and indexing documentation of legal executions in the United States. His papers contain both primary and secondary sources used to catalog thousands of instances of capital punishment in the United States and its territories since the 1600s. The collection includes material from corrections records, newspapers, county histories, legal proceedings, and books. In addition to the records pertaining specifically to the death penalty, there is also a selection of magazines collected by Espy that cover true crime stories as well as life in the American Old West.

The Victor Streib Papers contain research materials and legal case files on the death penalty in the United States with a focus on how it has been applied to women and juveniles.