Hunch.
I found it qualm, when the convicts were given a life sentence, however was not so aggravated.
qualm is a feeling of sickness, like your gonna throw-up.
'Qualms of conscience' are the doubts a person has over the moral justification to the activitiy. After three years of war, the Union soldier had no qualms about killing southerners in battle.
he had no qualms about lying