Letter from Public Affairs re Coker v. Georgia

Document text

The following text has been generated automatically during the document scanning process. It may contain errors, omissions, or incorrect formatting. Please refer to the PDF document if this text is not usable.

Download

By downloading, publishing, or reusing the Materials outside of the Website, you hereby confirm and attest that you have read and agree to the LDF Archival Collection Terms of Use linked below. We draw your attention to the following:

For those Materials owned by LDF, your use of the Material outside the Site is solely for one or more of the following (the “Permitted Purposes”):

Non-commercial research and private study;
Teaching, scholarship and instruction (including distance learning);
Non-commercial print and non-commercial online use;
Criticism, comment or news reporting; or
For people with visual disabilities (See Section 121 of the Copyright Act).
For those Materials not owned by LDF you understand that:
- It is your responsibility to determine whether the way you plan to use the materials falls within the copyright exception of Fair Use.
- For any use outside of Fair Use, it is your responsibility to seek and obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders.

LDF hereby grants you the right to use LDF owned Materials for the Permitted Purposes without seeking further permission from LDF.

If you publish or redistribute any Materials (including excerpts and quotes), you must include a credit line and/or proper citation to the source of the Material. However, you may not use the name of LDF in any manner which creates any false association between you and LDF or that incorrectly implies any sponsorship or endorsement of you by LDF.

NOTICE: Uses that do not comply with these Terms or that do not fall under Fair Use (or another exception) may make you liable for copyright infringement.

Read the full LDF Archival Collection Terms of Use Here.

I agree to the terms and conditions for use of this content.

If you would like to use this content in other ways, contact us at

This item is featured in:

Peggy Cooper Davis Oral History

Collection
- Press Releases
Taxonomy
Identifier
- 515b89d8-bd92-ee11-be37-00224827e97b

Cite this item

Press Releases, Loose Pages. Letter from Public Affairs re Coker v. Georgia, 1977. 515b89d8-bd92-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/aca398d1-5663-4e0f-92ae-c3affcf7db5d/letter-from-public-affairs-re-coker-v-georgia. Accessed July 13, 2025.

Copied!

    weuk tub to = tinQ. 

DS. VARA A ThLae § ie] 

ONAMMAS + public apairs prod 
NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC 

10 Columbus Circle, New York, N.Y. 10019 (212) 586-8397 

March 18, 1977 

Executive Producer 
"Not For Women Only" 
WNBC-TV 
30 Rockefeller Plaza 
NewYork, New York 

Dear Sir: 

On March 28, LDF will argue a case before the Supreme 
Court, Coker v. Georgia, that we believe will result in 
abolition of the death penalty for rape. 

Ten years ago, the Fund began its campaign of litigation 
to have capital punishment declared unconstitutional as a 
penalty for rape. Ninety-percent of those who had been 
sentenced to die for this crime were black, and virtually 
all of them had been accused of raping white women -— making 
it the most racially discriminatory application of the 
death penalty. 

The story of that 10 year effort is a dramatic one - 
encompassing startling statistical findings, elaborate 
legal theorizing that broadened the Fund's focus to 
capital punishment in general, and extraordinary efforts 
by LDF lawyers to monitor every death row case in the 
country to prevent any execution. For fully 10 years 
they successfully maintained a moratorium on state- 
imposed murder. 

The Coker case, if we are successful, will represent a 
great moral and practical victory, and one that will have 
substantial legal consequence. The chief lawyers in the 
case are David Kendall, who will argue the case before the 
Court, and Peggy Davis. 

If you wish to cover this issue in some fashion, we will be 
happy to provide you with whatever information or access 
you require. Feel free to call either attorney directly, 
or contact LDF Director-Counsel Jack Greenberg, who has 
spearheaded this effort since its inception. 

Sincerely, 

Shonckadt— 
Sylvia Kronstadt 
Public Affairs 

Contributions are deductible for U.S. income tex purposes

Copyright notice

This collection and the tools to navigate it (the “Collection”) are available to the public for general educational and research purposes, as well as to preserve and contextualize the history of the content and materials it contains (the “Materials”). Like other archival collections, such as those found in libraries, LDF owns the physical source Materials that have been digitized for the Collection; however, LDF does not own the underlying copyright or other rights in all items and there are limits on how you can use the Materials. By accessing and using the Material, you acknowledge your agreement to the Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the Materials.

Additional info

To the extent that LDF includes information about the Materials’ origins or ownership or provides summaries or transcripts of original source Materials, LDF does not warrant or guarantee the accuracy of such information, transcripts or summaries, and shall not be responsible for any inaccuracies.

Letter from Public Affairs re Coker v. Georgia

This item is featured in:

Collection

Taxonomy

Identifier

Cite this item

Copyright notice

Additional info

You may also be interested in