On Friday, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was sentenced to the death penalty for his role in the Boston Marathon bombing. It's a verdict that left many Bostonians surprised; though 60 percent of Americans said they supported the death sentence of Tsarnaev, a Boston Globe polled showed that just 15 percent of native Bostonians did, citing concerns that ranged from the possibility of Tsarnaev being treated as a martyr to the idea that the death sentence is a greater punishment for a 21-year-old.
What's the explanation? The New York Times turned up an interesting detail: Only jurors who were "death qualified" — that is, open to the death penalty — were considered for the Tsarnaev trial. Anyone who expressed opposition to the death penalty was disqualified.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Who are Syria's resurgent rebels?The Explainer Surprise Aleppo offensive, led by controversial faction, has blindsided Bashar al-Assad and his allies
-
Magical festive light trails around the UKThe Week Recommends These twinkling displays have pulled out all the stops to get you in the mood for Christmas
-
Donald Trump has said 'the most beautiful word in the dictionary is tariff'Today's Big Question Donald Trump's threat to impose crippling tariffs 'part of a broader turn towards protectionism in the West'
-
Judge blocks Louisiana 10 Commandments lawSpeed Read U.S. District Judge John deGravelles ruled that a law ordering schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms was unconstitutional
-
Swearing in the UK: a colourful historyIn The Spotlight Thanet council's bad language ban is the latest chapter in a saga of obscenity
-
ATF finalizes rule to close 'gun show loophole'Speed Read Biden moves to expand background checks for gun buyers
-
Hong Kong passes tough new security lawSpeed Read It will allow the government to further suppress all forms of dissent
-
France enshrines abortion rights in constitutionspeed read It became the first country to make abortion a constitutional right
-
Texas executes man despite contested evidenceSpeed Read Texas rejected calls for a rehearing of Ivan Cantu's case amid recanted testimony and allegations of suppressed exculpatory evidence
-
Supreme Court wary of state social media regulationsSpeed Read A majority of justices appeared skeptical that Texas and Florida were lawfully protecting the free speech rights of users
-
Greece legalizes same-sex marriageSpeed Read Greece becomes the first Orthodox Christian country to enshrine marriage equality in law
