Explosion at Boston Marathon

[Oraisteach]

Worth reading "The Cruel and Unusual Execution of Clayton Lockett" from The Atlantic.  A grim account of a badly botched Oklahoma execution.   No matter how how heinous his crime, he should not have endured this suffering and incompetence.

[Tony Baloney]

I'd rather ride the needle than have a life in solitary.

[muppet]

Lock him up and throw away the key. 23 hours a day in solitary in a tiny cell with limited human interaction-way worse than the death penalty in my view

Yip, couldn't agree more. Death almost is an easy out for him.

[J70]

I am against the death penalty,  but that's because of the risk of errors and the unfairness/corruption of the justice system at times.  However,  this dude has not even tried to deny involvement or shown any remorse. f**k him.

[gallsman]

Asking a jury of ordinary people to make the decision makes it even worse in my opinion..

That's something I find very strange too, asking the jury to decide the punishment.

[INDIANA]

OK, Boycey, your statement is like a light to attract flies.  Tony, wherever you lurk in the ether, the death penalty, thumbs up or thumbs down?  I'm with you, Boycey, that the death penalty is wrong, period.  My only dilemma is whether it's actually a more humane penalty than the v. restrictive life sentence Tsarnaev would have to endure.  I don't think civilized countries should be in the business of killing people who no longer pose a threat.

what about the people he killed? I suppose it's ok they don't pose a threat either.

[easytiger95]

Killing him isn't going to bring them back.

Although there is no question of his guilt, I always think of the Guildford 4 and Birmingham 6 when cases like this come up. Had those atrocities occurred on American soil, you can guarantee the death penalty would have been the result.

DNA testing is exposing a huge amount of posthumous miscarriages of justice in the States, and the principle should always be better 100 guilty go free, than 1 innocent be convicted (and executed) wrongly.

Most systems of justice everywhere have flaws - it is a human conception after all - so I would always be against it.

Tsarnev is a young man who has committed an atrocity without remorse. But I wonder whether the 40 year old Tsarnev would feel the same, and would he have anything to contribute to society, even from behind bars?

Easy for me to say, i suppose, given i was not directly affected by his acts.

[T Fearon]

No strong feelings on the death penalty but I certainly won't be shedding any tears for this guy.

[whitey]

Let me get this straight...the jury doesn't just decide whether the defendant is guilty or not but they also decide the punishment?

How can the Yankee legal system maintain consistency or do they not really give a shite? Some set up.

Jury are murdering b**tards IMO.

Its a little more nuanced than the "jury deciding the punishment".

Let me see if I can explain....Im relaying an explanation I heard on the radio so bear with me

Not all the charges he was convicted of carried the death penalty. The jury could vacate the death penalty and impose life in prison if there were mitigating circumstances. He was sentenced to death on just 6/17 charges that carried the death penalty. 13 did not carry the death penalty

http://www.wbur.org/2015/01/05/dzhokhar-tsarnaev-charges

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2015/02/12/the-charges-against-dzhokhar-tsarnaev-explained-plain-english/CkoC7HiL8NPLAoiXdsm5aP/story.html

[muppet]

On his being given to 6 death sentences, will they run concurrently?