Death Penalty, Light Cigarettes, Environmental Policy
Top of Mind with Julie Rose - Season 1, Episode 42
- Apr 14, 2015 6:00 am
- 1:42:13 mins
Tsarnaev and the Death Penalty (1:06) Guest: Karen Pita Loor, professor of law at Boston University The judge in the case of convicted Boston Marathon Bomber Dzohar Tsarnaev has placed the sentencing phase of the trial on hold until next Tuesday - a day after Boston will hold its second marathon since the bombing took place. When the court reconvenes, defense attorneys will try to convince the jurors who convicted Tsarnaev on all 30 counts against him, to sentence him to life in prison, rather than the death penalty. More than half of the counts Tsarnaev was found guilty of are punishable by death and the jury's verdict wasn’t surprising, considering defense attorneys admitted all along Tsarnaev was involved in the bombing. The more contentious phase of the trial comes next, as Tsarnaev's attorneys try to argue the 21-year old wouldn't have gone through with it without the domineering influence of his more radically-minded older brother Tamerlan, who was shot by police in the manhunt after the bombing. Light Cigarettes (26:14) Guest: Greta Hsu, associate professor of management at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management. She led the study on light cigarettes published in the American Sociological Review Labels matter a lot. A snack food says "low-fat" or "low sugar" and we are instantly convinced it is good for us. An apple labeled "organic" conjures a pastoral orchard scene where everything is done naturally and by hand. Research by sociologist Greta Hsu at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management finds companies have increasingly taken advantage of our willingness to believe such claims, even as they are changing the composition of their products to be less healthy. Her latest research, published in the American Sociological Review, investigates how the tobacco industry has manipulated consumers of "light" cigarettes. The Apple Seed (39:21) Guest: Sam Payne, host of the Apple Seed We hear "A Story for the Season of Passover" by Judith Black Environmental Policy (51:17) Guest: Gesa Luedecke, wor