A Different Perspective on the Boston Lockdown

6 Pages Posted: 30 May 2013 Last revised: 17 Jul 2013

Date Written: July 17, 2013

Abstract

The recent standoff in Watertown, Massachusetts, which resulted in the arrest of one alleged Boston Marathon bomber and the death of the other, is still fresh in the nation’s collective mind. The suspects' confrontation with law enforcement personnel and the subsequent manhunt resulted in the "lockdown" of a large part of the Boston metropolitan area. Commentators, legal and otherwise, have been quick to worry that just a couple of suspected terrorists were capable of creating so much trepidation that they brought a major city to a standstill. These commentators express concern about the troubling legal implications of the government's response, the huge economic costs of the shutdown, and the public policy precedents for dealing with terrorism in the future.

I believe these commentators have been looking at it incorrectly. Government officials' reason for locking down Boston was not the dangerousness of the situation. It was that they were so close to capturing the remaining suspect, and a shutdown greatly improved the chances of doing so. Commentators' fears about the ramifications of Watertown are unjustified when one considers the actual facts of the situation. We need a different lens for analyzing these events, one that rightly casts the government’s actions in a more positive light and might even send a stronger message to would-be terrorists.

Keywords: Boston lockdown, terrorist, police state, Boston Marathon bombings

JEL Classification: H56

Suggested Citation

Blenkinsopp, Alexander, A Different Perspective on the Boston Lockdown (July 17, 2013). New England Law Review, Vol. 48, p. 1, 2013, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2271595

Alexander Blenkinsopp (Contact Author)

Harvard University ( email )

Cambridge, MA 02138
United States

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