Death Penalty for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in the Boston Marathon Bombing

To the Editor:

Re Tsarnaev Given Death Sentence in Boston Attack (front page, May 16):

Most people I know were hoping for this outcome, but Im afraid I cant rejoice. The innocents killed are gone forever, and the injured still carry their wounds.

Since Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was willing to risk his life in the attacks, theres no reason to believe that the next would-be terrorist will be dissuaded by capital punishment.

The question is whether our society should support a justice system that responds to death with death and sometimes executes those wrongfully convicted along with the known guilty.

NADIA EL-BADRYDobbs Ferry, N.Y.

To the Editor:

I am against the death penalty for criminals, but I have long believed that terrorism lies somewhere between a crime and an act of war, even if tried as a crime (and I do not think society has sorted through that reality yet). While I am not happy about the sentence, neither am I remorseful about it.

CRAIG AVEDISIANNew York

To the Editor:

I generally oppose the death penalty, simply because innocent people sometimes do get executed. But I have no intellectual or moral objection to the state exacting a life for a life.

In the case of people like Timothy McVeigh or Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, in which guilt is unquestionable and retribution well justified, I support a sentence of death. I applaud the jurys decision.

JON HARRISONPoultney, Vt.

To the Editor:

When the parents of the 8-year-old boy who was killed, Martin Richard, asked for life in prison rather than the death penalty in order to avoid the long, drawn-out and inevitable appeals process, that clinched it for me.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev may deserve the death penalty, but the victims, their families and the rest of the country deserve to move on, live life, forget about this bad man and not waste millions of dollars on appeals and perhaps decades of dredging up the ugly details.

Maximum-security prison and forget about him would have been a better option, in my opinion.

DENISE G. MILLSBuffalo

To the Editor:

How can we justify this verdict when we select a jury to exclude those opposed to the death sentence?

SHARON AUCOINNorth Andover, Mass.

To the Editor:

Those who are going to bash the jurors for this verdict should remember that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had the best death-penalty defense attorney in the country and that the jurors (not us) reviewed the evidence that overwhelmingly convinced them of his guilt.

It is a sad thing to see a young person receive the death penalty, but I truly believe in the integrity of these jurors, that they followed their instructions and the evidence before them in reaching their verdict.

MARGOT KELLERSarasota, Fla.

To the Editor:

I am against the death penalty in most instances. However, in this case, as in the Oklahoma City bombing case, it is the only appropriate penalty. A sad ending to a very tragic event.

SUZANNE WILLIAMSLexington, Va.

To the Editor:

I am proud to live in a state where the majority did not favor the death penalty, even in a case as awful as this. I, too, am in that majority. But I also cannot imagine what it must have been like for those jurors, and I wish them all peace as they try to move on after doing a great civil service for us.

HEATHER WALSHBrookline, Mass.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/18/opinion/death-penalty-for-dzhokhar-tsarnaev-in-the-boston-marathon-bombing.html