Policing, Prisons, and Death Penalty Materials in Haverford College Special Collections

By Charles Burleigh, published Philadelphia, 1847
In this book Burleigh, a journalist and staunch advocate for abolition and social reform, makes a philosophical and religious argument against the usage of capital punishment.

By Edward Livingston, published Philadelphia, 1847
Best known for his role in the creation of the Louisiana Civil Code, lawyer and statesman Edward Livingston argues in this document for the abolishment of capital punishment.

By George Cheever, published New York, 1843
In this document, clergyman and reformer Rev. George Cheever argues in favor of capital punishment in response to legislative efforts to abolish the practice from New York assemblyman John Louis O'Sullivan.

By William Bradford, published Philadelphia, 1793
This pamphlet written by William Bradford, who served as attorney general and as justice on the supreme court, gives a review of the application of criminal law during the pre-reform colonial period. His aim was to highlight the need for more proportionate punishments for criminal offenses.

By Samuel Whelpley, published New Vienna, 1875
In these letters Whelpley, a Presbyterian preacher, argues that retaliation in war or by capital punishment is inherently un-Christian and in violation of the gospel.

By Benjamin Rush Plumley, undated
Plumley was a Quaker sympathizer and abolitionist who wrote under the pen name Ruth Plumley. In this book, he provides brief historical summaries and narrative poems about three prominent icons of 17th century Quakerism, including Mary Dyer, who was executed after defying a ban on Quakerism.

This collection consists of 2 flyers, "Save Ahmed Evans" and "Ahmed Evans Must Be Set Free!" from September 1969. The fliers were likely sponsored, produced, and distributed in New York City by the Committee to Save Ahmed Evans, who wanted his death sentance commuted.

By Jacob Katz.
New York, 1924.
Katz was a rabbi and Jewish chaplain at Sing Sing in New York.

By Wesley Robert Wells.
Los Angeles: Civil Rights Congress, 1953.
Wells was incarcerated in death row at San Quentin.

The largest mass execution in US histoyr, this took place at Mankato, Minnesota, December, 26, 1862
Lithograph print

By Benjamin Rush.
London: Philadelphia printed: London reprinted: and sold by J. Johnson, and J. Phillips, 1793.

By Paul Crump.
Chicago: Johnson Publishing Company, 1962.
Written while Crump was on death row in Chicago.

By Caryl Chessman.
Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1955.
One of a set of memoirs Chessman wrote while incarcerated on death row at San Quentin.

By Albert Ru-Al Jones, illustrated by Travis "rR" Lewis.
Las Vegas, 2023.
Jones has been incarcerated at San Quentin and on death row since 1996.

By Albert "Ru-Al" Jones, illustrated by Travis Lewis.