No, Death Isn't 'Too Good' for Tsarnaev

Townhall.com ^ | 2/15/13 | Jeff Jacoby

[Impala64ssa]

Of all the reasons to oppose the death penalty for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev if he is found guilty of the Boston Marathon terror bombings, none is less convincing than the claim that executing the murderer of Krystle Campbell, Lingzi Lu, Martin Richard, and Sean Collier would amount to rewarding him.

Seek Tsarnaev's death and you give him just what he craves, runs this argument, which has been made by law professor Alan Dershowitz, criminologist James Alan Fox, and death-penalty critics in the media. Executing Tsarnaev will succeed only in making him a martyr and a hero, they say; it will drive more attention to his cause. "His face would appear on recruiting posters for suicide bombers," Dershowitz warned last year in an essay for The Guardian. "The countdown toward his execution might well incite other acts of terrorism."

Closely related is the objection that executing Tsarnaev hands a propaganda victory to nihilists who think the key to paradise is to maim and murder in the glare of publicity. If federal prosecutors actively pursue a sentence of death, they'll be keeping that publicity alive, generating waves of fresh media coverage for the jihadist's evil motivations, and boosting his stature among his supporters. But a conviction followed by decades in prison, say death-penalty opponents, would replace that spotlight with insignificance. Within a few years, he would vanish from public consciousness. Deny him the hype and notoriety of death row, and Tsarnaev will molder in obscurity, a role model for no one.

But there are obvious weaknesses with this argument.

Life imprisonment offers no assurance that interest in a depraved killer will dry up, as the grotesque and ongoing pop culture surrounding Charles Manson has repeatedly shown.

[Impala64ssa]

Oh, sure keep them alive and they'll fade into obscurity. Like Charles Mansion, who has stupid ignorant bimbos wanting nothing more than to have his love child. Or the quintessential cause celeb Mumia abu jamal, old medusa head himself. Speaking of McVeigh, the anti DP proponents didn't seem too sad to see him go, other than a few Jesuits doing a rather lackluster rendition of Jesus carrying the Cross on the day he was executed. Nor were they particularly bent out of shape when James Brewer was executed. Not that they didn't get what they deserved, but the anti-DP crowd is very good at choosing their battles wisely aren't they?

[Mr. K]

a very slow and painful death would be best but hey, dead is dead.

[gaijin]

Gummint asset went rogue, flipped.

[Thumper1960]

You have to understand, McVeigh had to die because McVeigh attacked the GOVERNMENT. He, and anyone else who dares go against the almighty government, must be punished in the most severe manner. Government, and the apparatchiks therein, are much more valuable and important than you or I.

[Mercat]

I wish that they would do the deed soon after the sentence but being on death row is a bit more restrictive I think (don’t know about in Massachusetts) than being in the general population. So I’m okay with a death sentence even though I know that it will take probably decades to kill him. I also try to imagine myself throwing the switch or pushing the plunger. It’s hard for me to work through that. So I’m pro death penalty in theory but not sure I could actually kill someone who wasn’t at that moment trying to kill me.

[JoeProBono]

[Nuc 1.1]

I think you have the gist of it.

[Stosh]

If he’s not fried, the first US serviceman, diplomat or tourist captured by any Islamist group will be held in perpetuity unless Tsarnaev is released in trade. And then that will continue with more and more hostages of the same sort.

[okie01]

You have to understand, McVeigh had to die because McVeigh attacked the GOVERNMENT.

Methinks McVeigh had to die because he knew some things that still haven't been revealed. About either Saddam Hussein's or Osama bin Laden's (or both's) sponsorship of his effort.

And that would've run counter to Bill Clinton's own plan to blame the Murrah Building bombing on right-wing militia types.

[Sacajaweau]

Ya know what's going to happen. His parents are going to ask for him and Obama will deliver him to the parents who hate the US even more than this Muzzie punk.

Kinda like....okay Mr. Putin....he's yours.

And I hope Putin swoops him up and televises a firing squad....because that's what should happen to this little Muslim ba*****.

[Impala64ssa]

I vaguely remember back in the 70’s when some muzzies hijacked one of our planes in the Mid-East, one of their demands was to release Sirhan Sirhan.

[Sacajaweau]

I’d say McVeigh died so WE couldn’t connect the dots. We never did find that Muzzie looking character...Perp No. 3

[marron]

McVeigh had to die because he knew some things that still haven't been revealed.

I think the government made that rather obvious when they bull-dozed the building within days, and cherry-picked 3 or 4 witnesses out of hundreds, and executed him in record time.

I think they told him, so that he wouldn't fight or appeal his sentence, go quietly, take it like a man, be a good soldier, or we'll go after your sister.

[central_va]

They should have water boarded McVeigh.

[dagogo redux]

The death penalty in this case should rightfully be reserved for people at all levels of power within the Federal government who were complicit in allowing this to happen.

[marron]

I think they knew everything he knew.

[I want the USA back]

If the piece of crap is eliminated the airhead babes won’t be able to go ape over him, and the media won’t be able to make a hero of him.

Dead is dead. Eliminate this piece of crap.

[Cen-Tejas]

You say “decades” and your probably right but didn’t the Feds drop the hammer on McVeigh in something like under 4 years?

So, our lefty government can speed it up when it suits them.

[Thumper1960]

Can’t find the mystery muzzie?

Look in 0bamao’s government. Or, under Valerie’s desk.