BREAKING: Boston Bomber sentenced to death

[politicallefty]

I've already mentioned before that I believe the appropriate punishment was life without parole at ADX Florence. I don't feel at all comfortable with this decision at all. I think this was something the whole world was watching and, as someone who has a principled stance against capital punishment, I think it makes this country look very backwards. It is entirely unnecessary and based out of nothing more than vengeance.

I say it is based out of vengeance based on the way the way the system works. The people of Boston and of Massachusetts as a whole do not support capital punishment. According to polling, even fewer than those that support the death penalty support its utilization in this case (I think the numbers were 30% in support of capital punishment and 19% wanted it applied in this case). Jury selection in death penalty cases is stacked against the defendant no matter what. Even the family that lost their 8-year-old son went out of their way to write in opposition to a death sentence. Their 'closure' in this case required a life sentence, not the death penalty. My sympathies in this case lie only with the victims and their families, but that does not mean I support the government taking any more lives when it is completely unnecessary.