Salt Lake City Events, 1996

File — Box: 18

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This box contains newspaper clippings and various court and ACLU documents pertaining to two Salt Lake City events of 1996. About half of the material in this addendum is about the death penalty case of child rapist and murderer, John R. Taylor. The articles Sillitoe collected on the case focus on not only Taylor's conviction, but also on Utah's laws concerning the death penalty. At the time of the case, Utah was the only state to allow death row inmates to choose their manner of execution. Furthermore, Utah was also one of the only states to use the firing squad as an execution method. As a result of these laws, Taylor chose to die by firing squad to draw attention to the absurdity of these laws. The other half of the material in this addendum is about students' right to have and organize gay clubs in high schools. In 1996, students from East and West High Schools organized gay-straight alliances. The school district retaliated by deciding to ban all extra-curricular clubs. The articles Sillitoe collected discuss the issue and document the protests and law suits that followed.

Dates

1996

Language of Materials

From the Collection: Collection materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.