This blog is another one of my attempts to get conversation going (civil) and sharing ideas about a horrible crime. I am talking about the Boston Marathon Bomber. A young nineteen year old supposedly drawn into a heinous plot by his older brother to blow up innocent people and children.
He has been found guilty of thirty counts. The jury deliberated for eleven hours. I think the jury came to the right decision. Next week, the sentencing phase will begin. It is expected to last as long as the trial did. I have heard commenters say that if he doesn’t receive the death penalty, he will be put in a western maximum prison where bombers are kept. He would be in his tiny cell twenty three hours every day until he dies of natural causes.
I have been thinking about the death penalty and I know that all of you will not agree with me. That is what I want: the exchange of ideas, thoughts and emotions. Death will bring the end of his life. Will it bring the dead back to life? No. Will extremities reform at the moment he takes his last breath? No. But death will bring an end to what is going on inside in his head. He sat quiet and unresponsive during the trial. I am sure his attorney told him to sit and not react. At nineteen, he is only just beginning to be the man he was destined to be.
Though stoic, he did write he wanted to be a martyr. I don’t think we should give him that martyrdom. Martyrs can inspire others to follow in his/her steps.
The prison where they put the bombers is in Florence, California. If sent there, the Boston Marathon Bomber will be alone for twenty three hours a day. No contact with other humans. This boy is nineteen. Each year he faces twenty three hours a day to think. To remember what he did. To remember what was said against him in the trial. To fall asleep, and have his nightmares populated by the faces of those he killed or maimed. Twenty three hours is a long time to sit alone with nothing to do. A month of twenty three hours a day is a long time.
A year of twenty three hours is quite long. To live through all of these hours and to know there are fifty to seventy more years to survive. Each minute filled with sixty seconds, each hour filled with sixty minutes. Twenty three hours alone. Granting him the death penalty, instead of a life sentence without possibly of parole and death seems like we would be protecting him from having to live with what he has done.
What do you, my readers, think? How do you feel about this? I do believe he will suffer more with a life long stay in jail that in a death that would end his suffering and his penalty. He wants to die. He wants to be a martyr and have a platform. Is it right to give him what he wants?
Tsarnaev convicted of thirty counts in Boston
Boston Marathon 2013
idealisticrebel 
I’ll be short and sweet……………Let ’em rot. That’s far more punishment and he won’t be a martyr.
I think it would be the worst punishment myself. Thank you for stopping by and commenting. I appreciate the dialog. Hugs, Barbara
I’m with you. Death is the easy way out.
Well, there may be some good reasons to kill him, but in my heart and soul, it is us murdering him. Hugs, Barbara
I have issues with the death penalty in the first place. I feel ill equipped to stand as judge over someone’s life. And you make a very valid point about martyrdom.
Well I don’t believe in capitol punishment, but I do believe this young man will suffer more having to live with the horror of what he chose to do. Hugs, Barbara
I say life in prison! I don’t believe in the death penalty.
I don’t believe in the death penalty either but I do believe their is much to be said for making him have to live with his thoughts and actions. Hugs, Barbara
I agree Barbara! Blessings and peace. 🙂
I am against the death penalty and I think he should spend his days with nothing but his thoughts for comfort.
I think murderers ought to serve time. If we murder our murderers it makes us more like them. Let’s be more civilized than our murderers.
Hhhmmm……I’m on the fence about the death penalty. I don’t have a problem with it either way. Why should my taxes CONTINUE to pay for him – who cares about what he wants (martyrdom or not)? Why even have a prison just for bombers? Why not just impose the death penalty on all of them? But death does seem too easy & there are a lot of people who don’t care whether or not they die, so what do you do with them?
I just don’t know….
Rotting in the 23 hours a day of complete solitude is a proper punishment; however, Chocolate Vent has made a point I thought of before I started to read comments. Why should we suffer the cost of keeping him alive for so many years until he dies of natural causes? As far as the death penalty is concerned, I believe some murderers deserve it, depending on how heinous the crime was. I do not believe it makes us all as bad as the murderers if we do take a life for heinous crimes committed.
After reading the rest of the comments, I see I am alone in my thoughts about the death penalty. It’s my opinion. I let it stand.
Reblogged this on yes even this too will pass and commented:
People want their pound of flesh…
I do not agree with the death penalty under any circumstances. It’s returning evil for evil and might be why this country suffers so much evil due to the many people it has killed in the name of the government.
As long as there’s no possibility of freedom then i agree with you.
Am against death penalty and all for imprisonment with hard work and no liberty ever for the offender.
I am against the death penalty. I wish we could find a way to take this 19-year-old life and turn it around. I am not sure how society can do that or if it is possible. So many lives have been lost already and there is no way to get them back.
Barbara, I am with you on this, better for him to have time to contemplate his actions. The moral challenge for me in all of this is that when we send soldiers overseas and they kill innocent people, how many of them are put in prison for life in solitary confinement? I certainly don’t believe terrorists should be encouraged in any way, but I suppose that this boy thought he was saving someone too. It’s sad to me that violence is still the solution for injustice across the world, including with the death penalty.
I am against the death penalty. I am also against our super max prisons, which are inhumane and cruel. We do not need to impose this type of imprisonment, it is unnecessary except in cases where our normal prisons have proven unsuccessful at containment (rare). Solitary confinement for life is cruel, it is an unnecessary evil. Let him be sent to a maximum security federal prison where he can spend the rest of his natural life in productive labor, earning his keep.
What a waste of life. Whatever comes his way – he deserves. I personally am not a fan of the death penalty. But – if that’s what is decided – so be it.
I would rather he be in solitary confinement 23 hrs a day for the rest of his life.
No sympathy from me where his punishment is concerned. He had none & is still not remorseful for what he has done.
I know – sounds insensitive…