In These Times.Timothy McVeigh's brief stay of execution in May underscores the potential for error in capital punishment capital punishment, imposition of a penalty of death by the state. History Capital punishment was widely applied in ancient times; it can be found (c.1750 B.C.) in the Code of Hammurabi. cases, writes Salim Muwakkil Salim Muwakkil is an American journalist based out of Chicago. He is a senior editor at In These Times, and an op-ed columnist for the Chicago Tribune. Muwakkil's writes on African American issues, Middle East politics, and US foreign policy. in a June 25 In These Times editorial. Muwakkil questions what that means for African Americans and Latinos, who are disproportionately represented among the ranks of death row inmates. "As the McVeigh case demonstrates, death penalty cases have high error rates and make plain the costs of human fallibility fal·li·ble adj. 1. Capable of making an error: Humans are only fallible. 2. Tending or likely to be erroneous: fallible hypotheses. on the most irrevocable form of punishment," he writes. "McVeigh is an unusual resident on Death Row. He is an unrepentant, well-defended white man," Muwakkil notes. "However, most of the 3,726 inmates on Death Row nationwide are poor, disproportionately black or Latino, and represented by underpaid un·der·paid v. Past tense and past participle of underpay. underpaid Adjective not paid as much as the job deserves underpaid adj → , court-appointed attorneys who too often are either novices or burnouts." He adds, "If McVeigh's case can be mishandled, just think of the prospects for foul-ups faced by the more typical capital defendants." |
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