Got You Covered

How is this for a cover boy:
-Ethic features
-Olive skin
-Thick, dark, wavy hair
-Full dark eyebrows
-Dark brown eyes
-Dark pink, full lips
-Mustache and goatee
-Age 19
-Scholarship to University of Massachusetts Dartmouth 
-Former high school wrestler
Not so bad, eh?
Let's keep checking his "cover boy" credentials (all of which he received in one day):
-Associated with killing an 8 year old boy
-A suspect in the killing of two adults
-Accused of injuring over 300 people (injuries ranging from loss of limbs, hearing and sight)
-Once on the FBI's Most Wanted List
Still look cover worthy? 

To RollingStone magazine, Dzhokhar "Jahar" Tsarnaev was worthy of their recent cover.  Tsarnaev is the primary suspect in the Boston Marathon Bombing on April 15, 2013, which he plead NOT GUILTY.  Many unsuspecting individuals were subject to seeing the cover without warning (in subscriptions in the mail, walking by newstands, etc.).  Many people decided to boycott the publication prior to reading the article and its reasoning (I read the article online on the RollingStone site, link below, a very well written article).  Anticipating the backlash, RollingStone released a statement why Tsarnaev was chosen as the issues cover:
Our hearts go out to the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing, and our thoughts are always with them and their families. The cover story we are publishing this week falls within the traditions of journalism and Rolling Stone’s long-standing commitment to serious and thoughtful coverage of the most important political and cultural issues of our day. The fact that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is young, and in the same age group as many of our readers, makes it all the more important for us to examine the complexities of this issue and gain a more complete understanding of how a tragedy like this happens. –THE EDITORS  Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/jahars-world-20130717#ixzz2ZhXaX2Au

As I study for the midterm this brings me to Marcus Harvey and the painting of Myra Hindley.  I go over the similarities and differences of the two:

 -Hindley was arrested in 1965 and Harvey painted her in 1995 (30 years after incident)

-Tsarnaev was arrested April 19, 2013 and on cover July 17, 2013 (3 months after incident)
-Hindley image in museum
-Tsarnaev image on a magazine cover
-Harvey replicated a mugshot
-RollingStone used a personal photograph
-Harvey used children's handprints to create the texture
-RollingStone kept image as is (just increasing size)

This is not the first time RollingStone published an accused killer on its cover, Charles Manson (1970).  Was RollingStone to premature in publishing the image of Tsarnaev? Is this artistic freedom or insensitivity?