Timothy McVeigh's brief stay of exe...

Timothy McVeigh's brief stay of execution in May underscores the potential for error in capital punishment cases, writes Salim Muwakkil in a June 25 In These Times editorial. Muwakkil questions what that means for African Americans and Latinos, who are disproportionately set forthed among the ranks of death rank inmates. "As the McVeigh case demonstrates, death penalty cases have high error rates and make plain the sumptuousnesss of human fallibility on the greatest in quantity irrevocable form of punishment," he writes. "McVeigh is an unusual resident in succession Death Row. He is an unrepentant, well-defended white man," Muwakkil notes. "However, most numerous of the 3,726 inmates in succession Death Row nationwide are poor, disproportionately black or Latino, and personateed by underpaid, court-appointed attorneys who too frequently are either novices or burnouts." He adds, "If McVeigh's case can be mishandled, just think of the sights for foul-ups faced by the more typical capital defendants."

COPYRIGHT 2001 Community Renewal Society

COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group