Abolitionists Will Lose Ground By Fighting Marathon Bomber Case

US Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to seek the death penalty in the case of the Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is bad news for opponents of capital punishment. Holder's decision puts the abolitionist community in a bind. Discussed is how such arguments would be s...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The National Law Journal & Legal Times 2014-02, Vol.36 (24), p.31
Main Author: Sarat, Austin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abolitionists
Capital punishment
Public opinion
Terrorism
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:US Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to seek the death penalty in the case of the Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is bad news for opponents of capital punishment. Holder's decision puts the abolitionist community in a bind. Discussed is how such arguments would be seen as a defense of Tsarnaev, gaining negative publicity for abolitionists. Let Tsarnaev stand trial for his crimes. If convicted, let a jury decide whether he should receive a death sentence. In the meantime, there are too many other battles that need to be fought on the road to the abolition of capital punishment in the US to expend much political energy on Tsarnaev's cause.
ISSN:2163-8756