‘Disappointed’ with Tsarnaev sentence
Chafee weighs in on Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s death sentence:
I was disappointed. Even some family members of victims had advocated to spare Tsarnaev, and I thought that was powerful testimony…The arguments for the death penalty are that it’s a deterrent. In this case, considering all the volatile relations we have with the Muslim world, and some of the brutality that ensues on innocent people by ISIS and the like, I just have concerns that this is going to be some kind of trigger. I hope not…It’s a big question that has been with human civilization for a long time. Is it a deterrent or isn’t it? Most civilized countries have banned capital punishment; we haven’t.
As president Chafee says he would support banning the death penalty at the federal level.