Death For Dzhokhar Tsarnaev

Coverage can be found here (the CNN link is helpful to give an overall view) and here (defense minded view).  The latter suggests there might be some problems and various comments provide the sentiment that the death penalty overall is uncivilized. The sentencing verdict looked a bit quick (some talk of early next week) and there appeared (at least at the first blog) some sentiment that LWOP was at least possibly (several thought probable).  But, helped by a death qualified jury (pure abolitionism can keep you off), the death won out here.

This sort of atypical case (akin to Timothy McVeigh in some ways & there Terry Nichols didn't get the death penalty, showing it is all so arbitrary even when talking about mass murder) doesn't say much about "abolitionists." Since the victims or family of the victims of the bombing have mixed views on what is deserved, the usual appeals to there is of limited value. Deterrence isn't advanced much for this sort of thing. Unclear if he is some danger in prison. As to retribution, LWOP to me seems more appropriate and in some ways harder for him.  Finally, age, pressure from his brother and perhaps something else provided some reason to choose LWOP.

The final judgment of the jury is not some sort of travesty. It's understandable. There are reasons even here to vote the other way, but unlike various other cases, this is a "worse of the worst" sort of case.  This doesn't mean the death penalty is suddenly okay but we should be honest about scope of wrong.  And, I think there is a strong enough federal interest that a federal prosecution was appropriate. A few latch on federalism arguments mixed with the Eighth Amendment to argue that a death penalty is not warranted in an abolitionist state. Don't find that overall convincing. The current administration supports the death penalty in such cases. 

Let's see how this plays out. McVeigh's case was pretty quick -- four years from sentencing to execution.