--- description: Bungled executions. Backlogged courts. And three more reasons the modern death penalty is a failed experiment title: Why The Era of Capital Punishment Is Ending image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt37481fa950caa3cc/698851ef2dce01f8d69e3eb2/death-penalty-chair.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Why the End of Capital Punishment Is Near by [David Von Drehle](/author/david-von-drehle/) ## David Von Drehle Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 28, 2015 9:41 AM CUT  The lethal injection facility at San Quentin State Prison in San Quentin, Calif. on Sept. 21, 2010. The lethal injection facility at San Quentin State Prison in San Quentin, Calif. on Sept. 21, 2010.Eric Risberg—AP by [David Von Drehle](/author/david-von-drehle/) ## David Von Drehle Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 28, 2015 9:41 AM CUT The case of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev absorbed Americans as no death-penalty drama has in years. The saga of his crime and punishment began with the shocking bloodbath at the 2013 Boston Marathon, continued through the televised manhunt that paralyzed a major city and culminated in the death sentence handed down by a federal jury on May 15 after a two-phase trial… [**Read the full story here.**](http://time.com/deathpenalty/ "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3899479/modern-death-penalty-failed-experiment/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3899479/modern-death-penalty-failed-experiment/"},"headline":"Why the End of Capital Punishment Is Near","datePublished":"2015-05-28T09:41:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T07:41:37.959Z","description":"Bungled executions. Backlogged courts. And three more reasons the modern death penalty is a failed experiment","url":"https://time.com/3899479/modern-death-penalty-failed-experiment/","keywords":["Crime","Capital Punishment"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt37481fa950caa3cc/698851ef2dce01f8d69e3eb2/death-penalty-chair.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"David Von Drehle","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/david-von-drehle/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt37481fa950caa3cc/698851ef2dce01f8d69e3eb2/death-penalty-chair.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The lethal injection facility at San Quentin State Prison in San Quentin, Calif. on Sept. 21, 2010.","caption":"The lethal injection facility at San Quentin State Prison in San Quentin, Calif. on Sept. 21, 2010.","creditText":"Eric Risberg—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3899479/modern-death-penalty-failed-experiment/","name":"Why the End of Capital Punishment Is Near"}}]}] ```