I can’t say I am surprised, but I am disappointed. The Boston bombing was a terrible crime, but I stand against the death penalty. Retribution is a powerfully sympathetic theory of justice, probably the oldest and therefore the most durable in human culture. It does not hold up under rational scrutiny.

Of course, this is politics at work, not justice. It seems inconceivable during an era defined by the war on terror that prosecutors would have sought anything less than execution. This despite the fact that Bill and Denise Richards, parents of the bombing’s youngest victim, 8-year-old Martin, were against it.

Below the BBC sketches in the context of the pending execution, which will take place in Terre Haute, Indiana, by lethal injection. So far just 3 of 74 inmates sentenced to death in federal court have been executed, including the Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, all of them in Terre Haute.

An appeal is expected, which could take years to resolve fully.

Also included is a link to a fascinating look by The New Yorker at the fate of the corpse of Tsarnaev’s brother, Tamerlan, which was published a few weeks after the bombing in 2013.