Boston Globe Columnist: Hasn’t Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Suffered Enough?

I paraphrased in the title of this post, but not by much.

Boston Globe columnist Joanna Weiss…

How much should Dzhokhar Tsarnaev suffer?

There has long been a debate about prison’s chief purpose, whether it ought to be punishment or rehabilitation. We want to force people to reckon for their deeds, and deter others from committing the same crimes. But prisons, with their libraries, GED programs, and enrichment opportunities, can also prepare inmates for a more productive future.

For someone with no chance of parole, the calculation changes. What’s the expectation for a convict like Tsarnaev? Abject misery, for as long as it can last? Reflection on his crimes and eventual remorse? A chance, within the prison walls, to make some kind of meaning?

I’ve reached the point where I don’t care whether Dzhokhar Tsarnaev gets the needle or slowly loses his mind in a small Supermax cell over the course of 50 years.

The one thing I don’t expect is his redemption or for him to find “some kind of meaning” in his crime as Ms. Weiss suggests.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is not a case study in the death penalty. Nor is he an example of America’s supposedly unfair prison system.

He’s a murderer who placed a bomb near a little boy who was blown to pieces and then, while still conscious, died an agonizing and painful death.

Martin Richard deserves more of our concern than Tsarnaev.

You would think that the editors of the Boston Globe would know that.