A recent poll spon­sored by the Boston Globe found that a sig­nif­i­cant major­i­ty of Boston res­i­dents favor life with­out parole over the death penal­ty for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Boston Marathon bomb­ing sus­pect. Fifty-sev­en per­cent (57%) of respon­dents sup­port­ed a sen­tence of life with­out parole if Tsarnaev is con­vict­ed, com­pared with only 33% who favored the death penal­ty. Sixty-one (61) per­cent of Democrats and 49% of Republicans (a plu­ral­i­ty) sup­port­ed a sen­tence of life with­out parole. The option was endorsed by men and women, across all edu­ca­tion­al lev­els, and among white, black, and Hispanic respon­dents. The poll was con­duct­ed September 5−12 by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center. Although the death penal­ty is not avail­able under Massachusetts law, Tsarnaev is fac­ing fed­er­al charges. No deci­sion has been made yet on whether the gov­ern­ment will seek the death penalty.

(B. MacQuarrie, ​“In Globe poll, most favor life term for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev,” Boston Globe, September 16, 2013). See Public Opinion and Federal Death Penalty.

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