Death Penalty, Light Cigarettes, Environmental Policy

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, works at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Center for Science and Technology Policy Research. She studies the impact of the media on shaping individual perceptions and behavior about climate change When warnings about climate change first start to resonate in the media, an image of a polar bear stranded on a melting iceberg became iconic. The media's treatment of climate change and its causes has since evolved. So have scientific and public opinion of the issue. Gesa Luedecke has been studying the media’s influence on public opinion and behavior toward climate change as a post doctorate scholar at the University of Colorado Boulder's Center for Science and Technology Policy Research. Violence Prevention (1:16:01) Guest: Angelia Trujillo, teaches forensic nursing at the University of Alaska Anchorage, School of Nursing and is author of the article, "A Practical Guide to Prevention for Forensic Nursing," which was published in the Journal of Forensic Nursing By the time a forensic nurse gets involved in a sexual assault case, the crime has already been committed, the physical and emotional damage already done. The forensic nurse collects evidence from the victim's body, takes photographs and helps police find and prosecute the perpetrator. But University of Alaska Anchorage nursing professor Angelia Trujillo is training her forensic nursing students to do more and an article she published in the Journal of Forensic Nursing last year has prompted many in her field to take a closer look at their role in preventing violence, rather than merely treating its aftermath.