Killing Killers
This week’s ARTICLE focuses on the U.S. Supreme Court’s (SCOTUS) 6-3 decision to overturn a Federal Appeals Court decision to throw out the jury’s death sentence for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the two brothers responsible for the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing which led to the deaths of three spectators and a police officer.
The Federal Appeals Court had ruled that the trial court erred in its handling of media publicity before the trial. The Appeals Court had ordered a new sentencing trial (note this didn’t mean that Tsarnaev would be aquitted or release; rather it merely meant that his death sentence could be changed to life in prison). The Federal Government asked SCOTUS to reinstate the trail court’s death sentence. SCOTUS reinstated the death sentence of the jury in the trial court.
Just to be clear, the article focuses on the question of Tsarnaev’s punishment: life in prison or death sentence). I found it interesting how President Biden’s administration characterized its stance on the situation (horrible act, but questions use of death penalty, etc.)
The use of Capital Punishment is an ancient argument. And I’m not going to rehash it here. I will say we are one of only a few industrialized nations that still uses it. I guess one important key for me is whether or not we (as a nation) want to kill human beings for killing. Again, I’m aware that this is a pretty simplistic manner in which to condense a VERY complex topic, but hey, it’s my blog:)
Thoughts?