Why the government won't be executing anyone — including Dzhokhar Tsarnaev — anytime soon
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was officially sentenced to death on charges of his involvement in the Boston Marathon bombing, but it is unlikely he will be executed for a long time to come. Due to a review of the federal death penalty, the Justice Department has put a moratorium on executions. And, even if executions were allowed, there are no lethal injection drugs around anyway due to shortages, a lack of manufacturers, and complications with drug combinations.
It is rare for someone to receive a federal death sentence, too. Since it was reinstated in 1988, only three inmates have been put to death. A federal execution hasn't taken place since 2003; even at the state level, the average inmate executed in 2013 had been on death row for more than 15 years.
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