If they execute Tsarnaev, they are giving him what he wants.

[Ken Burch]

Tsarnaev is a vile person who helped commit a reprehensible act.

If he is executed, he will become a martyr to the causes of Islamic extremism and violent Chechen nationalism. He will be painted and silkscreened on walls and t-shirts throughout the lands where those causes have popular support. He will achieve an undeserved immortality.

If he is left to live out his pathetic life in a prison cell, he will be forgotten and irrelevant-which is the worst possible punishment that could be given to a useless, hate-twisted follower like that.

Don't reward a terrorist by turning him into a legend.

Make him live on, in anonymity and failure.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. I agree completely. n/t

[backscatter712]

2. For me, it's now irrelevant.

The only important part is that this animal is going to remain in a cage until its dying breath.

[Raine1967]

3. I agree.

Unfortunately, the jury in Boston did not.

[riderinthestorm]

4. Agreed. My only consolation is Timothy McVeigh wasn't idolized post-execution

Im hopeful Tsarnaev is perceived of as more of an American than a Muslim jihadi...

[MADem]

8. And McVeigh refused appeals, putting his execution closer to the event he precipitated.

Tsarnaev will be in prison for a while, unless he does the same. It could be ten, even twenty years before he sees the needle. And by then, who knows? We might have eliminated the DP by the time his turn comes up....

[99Forever]

5. Well said. n/t

[AZ Progressive]

6. Don't expect Americans to do the smart thing

This should be obvious.

[alcibiades_mystery]

7. Meh

I asked somebody else who made this same argument for evidence that Tsarnaev "wanted" execution. All I was provided was the blood scrawl in the boat, which strikes me as silly and insufficient. This whole line of argument just seems dumb to me. That said, I am of course against this young man being executed. But not because refusing execution would deny him his desire, or anything so cruel and stupid. Execution is simply wrong. Nor do I want to see him wither away in a "super max," or tortured and abused in "gen pop," two other popular torture fantasies. My sentence would have been simple: 30 years with possibility of parole beginning after 20 years. He's a young man, and I believe in rehabilitation.