They couldn’t wait until the day after the anniversary to post this drivel?
Via Salon:
As the Boston Marathon bombing reenters the news on the occasion of its one-year anniversary, one critical question is gaining renewed interest: Should accused bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev receive the death penalty?
It’s a fine question for us as a nation to consider. But a quick glance at the history of the federal government and capital punishment should provide a clear answer: no.
The Justice Department has indicated that it would seek the death penalty for Tsarnaev, who is charged with participating in attacks that killed three people and injured more than 260 others. He would become only the fourth American to be executed by the federal government since Congress reinstated capital punishment in 1988, following a 16-year hiatus.
Earlier in our history, though, Uncle Sam put hundreds of people to death. Those decisions inevitably reflected the political passions of the moment, just as the Tsarnaev prosecution does. And that’s precisely why our government should not be in the business of determining who lives or dies, no matter how repulsive their behavior. […]
Naturally, I don’t have a single ounce of sympathy for Tsarnaev, who allegedly caused unfathomable grief and horror in Boston last year. But if we single him out for death, we will have let our present-day politics get the best of us. While passions of a crowd can be hard to resist, nobody can really know who is evil enough to deserve the ultimate penalty. And that’s ultimately why nobody should receive it.