Bernard E. Harcourt collection on Doyle Lee Hamm, 1919-2023

Collection context

Extent:
16.25 Linear Feet 13 record storage cartons
Language:
English .
Scope and content:

This collection features legal, personal, and family social history documents relating to the life, career, capital murder conviction and death sentence of Doyle Lee Hamm, who was the subject of an attempted execution by lethal injection by the State of Alabama on February 22, 2018. The social history materials collected during the mitigation investigation of Mr. Hamm's capital murder case date back to the Depression Era. Hamm died of complications from lymphatic cancer on November 28, 2021, in the William C. Holman Correctional Facility near Atmore, in southern Alabama. He was 64.

Biographical / historical:

Bernard E. Harcourt is the Isidor and Seville Sulzbacher Professor of Law and Professor of Political Science at Columbia University. Professor Harcourt is is a distinguished contemporary critical theorist, justice advocate, and prolific writer and editor. In his books, articles, and teaching, his scholarship focuses on social and critical theory with a particular interest in punishment and surveillance. Harcourt is the founding director of the Columbia Center for Contemporary Critical Thought and executive director of Columbia University's Eric H. Holder Initiative for Civil and Political Rights. Harcourt is the author or editor of more than a dozen books. Critique & Praxis (2020) charts a vision for political action and social transformation; The Counterrevolution: How Our Government Went to War Against Its Own Citizens (2018) examines how techniques of counterinsurgency warfare spread to U.S. domestic policing and policy; and Exposed: Desire and Disobedience in the Digital Age (2015) interrogates the crisis of democracy under mass surveillance regimes of "expository" power. Harcourt served as a law clerk for Judge Charles S. Haight Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and began his legal career representing death row inmates, working with Bryan Stevenson at what is now the Equal Justice Initiative, in Montgomery, Alabama. He continues to represent pro bono inmates sentenced to death and life imprisonment without parole.

Access and use

Restrictions:

This collection is located on-site.

Terms of access:

Single reproductions may be made for research purposes. It is the responsibility of the user to secure permission for publication or use from the appropriate copyright holder.

Preferred citation:

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Bernard E. Harcourt collection on Doyle Lee Hamm, 1919-2023; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.

Location of this collection:
6th Floor East Butler Library
535 West 114th Street
New York, NY 10027, USA
Before you visit:
Researchers interested in viewing materials in the RBML reading room must must book an appointment at least 7 days in advance. To make the most of your visit, be sure to request your desired materials before booking your appointment, as researchers are limited to 5 items per day.
Contact:
rbml@library.columbia.edu