Primary Sources: The 1960s: Law & Crime

"Here are some of the survivors of the Orangeburg Massacre remembering that fateful day. This video was produced by Dr. Jack Bass in 2003. It begins with Robert Lee Davis. "

"This oral-history interview focuses on Cox's tenure as solicitor general from 1961 to 1965, when he argued many landmark civil-rights cases before the Supreme Court. Since 1870, the presidents of the United States have appointed solicitors general to argue for the government in cases appearing in the Supreme Court. A leading figure in the Department of Justice, the solicitor general is considered among the most prestigious positions for a practicing lawyer in the United States."

"Fascinating documentary made to train police officers in the assistance and management of mentally ill and confused persons, produced in New Orleans by eminent filmmaker George C. Stoney using real New Orleans police officers as actors. A little-known ethnographic classic that is strongly rooted in the place where it was made."

"Fascinating documentary made to train police officers in the assistance and management of mentally ill and confused persons, produced in New Orleans by eminent filmmaker George C. Stoney. A little-known ethnographic classic that is strongly rooted in the place where it was made."

"What did it all mean? Was the Chicago Eight Trial merely, as one commentator suggested, "a monumental non-event"? Was it, as others argue, an important battle for the hearts and minds of the American people? Or is it best seen as a symbol of the conflicts of values that characterized the late sixties? These are some of the questions that surround one of the most unusual courtroom spectacles in American history, the 1969-70 trial of eight radicals accused of conspiring to incite a riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago..."
The site provides access to various sources including the trial transcript, images, and audio files.

"Apart from the large unanswered question of guilt, the Sheppard case deserves to be considered among the nation's most famous because it produced a landmark U. S. Supreme Court decision on fair trial rights and launched the career of a flamboyant young defense attorney named F. Lee Bailey...."

"Under Director J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI's COINTELPRO (Counterintelligence Program) was aimed at investigating and disrupting dissident political groups within the United States. In the 1960's, COINTELPRO's targets frequently included civil rights activists, both those who espoused non-violence, like Martin Luther King, and those that Hoover referred to as "black nationalist hate groups," like the Black Panthers. This document outlines the program's goals in attempting to limit the effectiveness of such groups. In practice, the FBI used infiltration, legal harassment, disinformation and sometimes extra-legal intimidation and violence against King, the Panthers, and other black activist groups in its attempt to discredit and disrupt them."

"COINTELPRO The FBI began COINTELPRO—short for Counterintelligence Program—in 1956 to disrupt the activities of the Communist Party of the United States. In the 1960s, it was expanded to include a number of other domestic groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan, the Socialist Workers Party, and the Black Panther Party. All COINTELPRO operations were ended in 1971. Although limited in scope (about two-tenths of one percent of the FBI’s workload over a 15-year period), COINTELPRO was later rightfully criticized by Congress and the American people for abridging first amendment rights and for other reasons. "

Barbara Jane Mackle kidnapping

"Justice in New York: An Oral History stretches across more than half a century, from the 1950s to the 2010s. Those years saw an unprecedented rise in social unrest and violent crime in the city, and then an equally dramatic drop in crime and disorder. If the interviews have an overarching theme, it is how the city – the police, courts, elected officials, and advocates – addressed and, yes, overcame those challenges. These men and women were actors in that drama, and their narratives stand on their own. The truth or mendacity of the story is for the reader to assess."

Courtroom illustrations from trials of: Lee Harvey Oswald, Jack Ruby, Sirhan Sirhan, James Earl Ray, Charles Manson, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, David Berkowitz, and T. Cullen Davis.

"In a unanimous decision, the Court held that distinctions drawn according to race were generally "odious to a free people" and were subject to "the most rigid scrutiny" under the Equal Protection Clause. The Virginia law, the Court found, had no legitimate purpose "independent of invidious racial discrimination." The Court rejected the state's argument that the statute was legitimate because it applied equally to both blacks and whites and found that racial classifications were not subject to a "rational purpose" test under the Fourteenth Amendment. The Court also held that the Virginia law violated the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. "Under our Constitution," wrote Chief Justice Earl Warren, "the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual, and cannot be infringed by the State.""
https://www.oyez.org/cases/1966/395

"t was not reported in 1964 that Kitty Genovese was a lesbian and that she shared her home in Kew Gardens with her girlfriend, Mary Ann Zielonko. In this piece, the first broadcast interview she has ever granted, Mary Ann remembers Kitty and the time they shared."

Includes documents, oral histories, etc. related to the 1966 University of Texas Tower shooting.

"James "Jimmy" Carr, founder of the Wolf Pack, an infamous prison gang in California during the 1960s, tells the story of life behind bars. Carr had unique experiences in the prison system as he was at seventeen still a juvenile and incarcerated in California’s oldest correctional facility. The incidents described on this album are taken from tapes Carr recorded as testimonial of his time in prison, and his evolution as a leader."

"Local TV newsfilm footage relating to the serial killer known as Zodiac, who operated in Northern California during the 1960s and 70s. This case has remained open in several counties since 1969."

"The Zodiac Killer was a serial killer who operated in Northern California from at least the late 1960s to the early 1970s. His identity remains unknown.
The name was coined in a series of taunting letters sent to the press until 1974. Despite his astrology-related penname the killer hadn't shown any clear interest in astrology, and it's possible he drew inspiration from previous killers such as Jack the Ripper. These letters included four cryptograms or ciphers, two of which have yet to be solved."