Collections : [National Death Penalty Archive]

Watt Espy sent and received a significant amount of correspondence as part of his work on the Capital Punishment Research Project. The majority of correspondence, however, was not organized when it arrived at the University at Albany. The archivists elected to arrange it into two groups: files devoted to prominent or regular correspondents, and general correspondence. The former includes key academics (Michael Radelet, Hugo Bedeau, Margaret Vandiver), attorneys (The California Appellate Project, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Ohio Public Defender's Office), death penalty abolitionists and advocacy group executives (Rev. Joe Ingle, Sister Helen Prejean, Henry Schwarzschild), prominent prisoners and their families (Kerry Max Cook, Gary McGivern), and researchers who frequently corresponded with Espy. There were also a small number of files that Espy organized by subject, such as letters to and from prisoners, telephone inquiries, or correspondence relating to executions in a particular state, and the archivists retained this order and kept the files in the first group. The second group includes more infrequent correspondents, usually general inquiries sent to libraries or archives for records relating to individuals executed or for research requests.

This series contains all of Professor Baldus Georgia material. In particular the McCleskey v. Zant and McCleskey v. Kemp cases in Georgia.

Contains articles, papers and reports created or received by the Association and reprinted for distribution on request. Topics included are alcoholism, narcotics addiction, problems of the criminal justice system, recidivism, mental health, juveniles and crime, pornography, victimless crimes, and General Secretary reports of the Association.