U.s. To Seek Death Penalty In Boston Bombing Case

[CrossCuT]

 

The Justice Department announced Thursday that it would seek the death penalty against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the 20-year-old man whom prosecutors have accused of bombing the Boston Marathon, killing three people and injuring more than 200 others.

“The nature of the conduct at issue and the resultant harm compel this decision,” Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said in a short statement.

 

 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-to-seek-death-penalty-in-boston-bombing-case/2014/01/30/c15465d8-8785-11e3-833c-33098f9e5267_story.html

[PhuturePriest]

I will pray that they don't do this.

[ToJesusMyHeart]

Kyrie eleison. 

[KnightofChrist]

I pray that before his death* he repents of his crimes and converts his heart, whether his end is due to an act of justice for his crimes against humanity or many years from now in a jail cell of old age.


But I do pray more for his victims, for those he murdered, Krystle Campbell, Martin William Richard, Lingzi Lu, and Sean Collier. And those he severely injured both physically and mentally, Richard H. Donohue Jr., Kaitlynn Cates, Brittany Loring, Sydney Corcoran, Liza Cherney, Heather Abbott, Jeff Bauman Jr., Roseann Sdoia, Jacqui Webb, Patrick Downes, Jessica Downes, David Yepez, Jarrod Clowery, Aaron Hern, Remy Lawler, JP Norden, Paul Norden, Caroline Reinsch, Christian Williams, Adrianne Haslet, Adam Davis, Sarah MacKay, Ron Brassard, Karen Brassard, Krystara Brassard, Karen Rand, Alvaro Galvis, Martha Galvis, Beth Roche, Marc Fucarile, Erika Brannock, John Odom, Eric Whalley, Ann Whalley, Sarah Girouard, Celeste Corcoran, Nicole Gross, Kevin Corcoran, Zhou Danling, Gillian Reny, Marilyn Kight, Denise Richard, Jane Richard, Denise Spenard, Lee Ann Yanni, J.P. Craven, Michelle L'Heureux, Darrel Folkert, William White, Mary Jo White, Kevin White, Victoria McGrath, Michael Gross, Michelle Connolly, Nicholas Yanni, Ascer Barlatier, Jenny Chung, Dan Soleau, Ryan C. McMahon, Mery Daniel, and any others that have been forgotten.



source: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/specials/boston_marathon_bombing_victim_list/

[blazeingstar]

I find terrorism and radicalization one of the only 21st century applications for the death penalty.  Other than that, even for mass-cold blooded murder, there is no reason. Our jails are good enough.

 

In this case, I'm sad that they are seeking it for this young man.  By all accounts he was sucked into this by his older brother and previous to that influence lived quite normally.  Its very, very sad.

[PhuturePriest]

I find terrorism and radicalization one of the only 21st century applications for the death penalty.  Other than that, even for mass-cold blooded murder, there is no reason. Our jails are good enough.

 

In this case, I'm sad that they are seeking it for this young man.  By all accounts he was sucked into this by his older brother and previous to that influence lived quite normally.  Its very, very sad.

 

Pope John Paul II said we should never seek the death penalty unless we cannot adequately keep the person away from society. He also said that in pretty much every developed country, this situation never arises. We have the money, space, and resources to keep him away from the public. There is absolutely no reason to kill him other than vengeance.

[KnightofChrist]

Pope John Paul II said we should never seek the death penalty unless we cannot adequately keep the person away from society. He also said that in pretty much every developed country, this situation never arises. We have the money, space, and resources to keep him away from the public. There is absolutely no reason to kill him other than vengeance.

Yes, he did, and not to get us into yet another never ending debate about the Death Penalty, but countless other Popes have supported the Death Penalty as a just and acceptable form of punishment as an exercise of retributive justice in expiation of the crime committed. Which is based on the idea that the punishment should fit the crime, the punishment for the criminal should be equal to the crime the criminal committed. When the criminal steals a object it is easier to find a punishment such as a fine or a certain amount time in jail and or prison that is equal to the crime committed. But when we talk of murderers, and mass murderers, what time in prison is equal to the life they have taken, and all the lives that may have been? The honest answer is that there are no amount money, or years in prison that is equal to the priceless life or lives the criminal has taken, none.

The court and jury that will put this man on trial and judge him, can take the teaching of John Paul the Great to heart and lock him away in prison for life, or they can choose to take many previous Popes teachings to heart and use the Death Penalty as a just and acceptable form of punishment as an exercise of retributive justice. Both are acceptable to the Church, and both are acceptable to me. I do not hope for his death, but I will not object if he is punished by means of the Death Penalty, he robbed Krystle Campbell, Martin William Richard, Lingzi Lu, and Sean Collier of their lives and all the lives that could have existed had he not murdered them, no amount of time in prison will be equal to his crimes and his violation of nature. That said nor will I object if the court and jury choose to show him mercy and give him life in prison. Edited January 31, 2014 by KnightofChrist

[blazeingstar]

Pope John Paul II said we should never seek the death penalty unless we cannot adequately keep the person away from society. He also said that in pretty much every developed country, this situation never arises. We have the money, space, and resources to keep him away from the public. There is absolutely no reason to kill him other than vengeance.

 

Unfortunatly, there's no way to keep a person sane and in true solitary conditions for more than a few months, never mind decades.  It's very cruel.  The alternitive is to put them in a secure segment, however, the level of radicalization that the older brother had is very dangerous.  For this younger brother, I'd say yes, the death penelty would be wrong.  However, I do think that terrorism is a poison and that can and will infect other prisoners in the long term if the offender is radicalized enough. The mind can be a dangerous weapon, and I think that it is a situation that has arose that has occurred in the past decade that PJP II would weigh into things.

[CrossCuT]

I personally dont like the death penalty in any circumstances because I dont feel that we can judge how a person will end up or that we can definitively say this person is evil FOREVER thus he should die.

 

Just like how we say in the face of abortion "You have no right to decide if a child will be loved or wanted. It is not an excuse to abort them."

In the same way I also dont believe we can say that someone will never change. Even if we are hurt, even if we have all the evidence to prove how horrible they are, we dont know for a fact that they will never change or repent.

 

Leaving the door open for them to have a change of heart or seek forgiveness is why I am against the death penalty. Their soul is what is most important and God alone gets to  judge that.

Edited January 31, 2014 by CrossCuT

[blazeingstar]

I personally dont like the death penalty in any circumstances because I dont feel that we can judge how a person will end up or that we can definitively say this person is evil FOREVER thus he should die.

 

Just like how we say in the face of abortion "You have no right to decide if a child will be loved or wanted. It is not an excuse to abort them."

In the same way I also dont believe we can say that someone will never change. Even if we are hurt, even if we have all the evidence to prove how horrible they are, we dont know for a fact that they will never change or repent.

 

Leaving the door open for them to have a change of heart or seek forgiveness is why I am against the death penalty. Their soul is what is most important and God alone gets to  judge that.

 

Yes, but the judgment has to be made weither or not their evil ways would continue.  There are people who perhaps could become changed people, but do they present a danger to the physical lives of the jailers and the psychological health of the other inmates?

 

Could they repent?  Perhaps.  But we must weigh the danger they are in the meantime.

 

For the prisoners, there are other inmates, and their are jailers.  Most of those who work in jails aren't paid well and risk being killed in a heart beat.  Even with technology, I don't think that we have really figured out extreme terrorism and the poison that develops from it.  Right now the prime place for radicalization in America is prison. 

[Nihil Obstat]

As much as some people do not like to admit it, retributive justice does have a place in Catholic morality.
I do not much like the death penalty, and I seriously doubt the competence of many justice systems to administer it, but traditional Catholic morality does not exclude it as a possibility.

[NotreDame]

Pope John Paul II said we should never seek the death penalty unless we cannot adequately keep the person away from society. He also said that in pretty much every developed country, this situation never arises. We have the money, space, and resources to keep him away from the public. There is absolutely no reason to kill him other than vengeance.

 

We certainly have the means to detain him indefinitely, but it's not clear we always the will. 

 

Just like we had the means to prevent the attack based on numerous intelligence reports on the brothers, but we'd rather feel up grandma at the airport and read juniors email then actually, ya know, prevent terrorism. 

[PhuturePriest]

Violence only breeds violence. Killing anyone will not "send a message", it will only enrage people and cause killing to continue. You can't stop killing by killing, no more than you can spend yourself out of a spending crisis.

[NotreDame]

Violence only breeds violence. Killing anyone will not "send a message", it will only enrage people and cause killing to continue. You can't stop killing by killing, no more than you can spend yourself out of a spending crisis.

 

So both St Augustine & St Thomas are wrong?

 

http://catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0182.html
 

[Lilllabettt]

As a conservative person, I don't trust the government to spend my tax money wisely. So I certainly don't trust them to execute "the right" citizens.