asons - in addition to justice - was they wanted all the publicity to be over. Yet, if it weren’t for the drama surrounding an execution, the media exposure would not have occurred in the first place. Murderers would be quietly and safely put away for life with absolutely no possibility of parole.The death penalty violates constitutional restraints against cruel and unusual punishment. The grotesque killing of Robert Harris by the state of California on April 21,1992, and similar reports of witnesses to hangings and lethal injections should leave doubt that the dying process can be - and often is - grossly inhumane, regardless of method.The death penalty is often used for political gain. During his presidential stay, President Clinton rushed home for the Arkansas execution of Rickey Ray Rector, a mentally retarded, African American man. Clinton couldn't take the chance of being seen by voters as "soft on crime." Political Analysts believe that when the death penalty becomes an issue in a campaign, the candidate favoring capital punishment almost inevitably will benefit.Capital punishment discriminates against the poor. Although murderers come from all classes, those on death row are almost without exception poor and were living in poverty at the time that they were arrested. The majority of death-row inmates was or is represented by court-appointed public defenders - and the state is not obligated to provide an attorney at all for appeals beyond the state level.The application of capital punishment is racist. About 40 percent of death row inmates are African American, whereas only 8 percent of the population as a whole is African American. In cases with Caucasian victims, African American defendants were four to six times more likely to receive death sentences than white defendants who had similar criminal histories. Studies show that the chance for a death sentence is up to five to ten times greater in cases with white...
