On April 15, 2013, the city of Boston was changed forever. During the Boston Marathon, two pressure cooker bombs were detonated close to the finish line. Three spectators were killed and more than 260 were injured as a result of these heinous actions. Now, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the perpetrators of this act of terror, could be facing the death penalty.
While many claim that capital punishment is too uncivilized to be enacted under any circumstances, I feel that there is still a special place for this tradition. When someone makes the decision to take the lives of innocent people, they should be held to the same standard that they applied to others. The Boston bombing was not an unfortunate accident, but a blatant attack by two men who completely disregarded the value of human life. If someone is so willing to take the lives of other people, why should the justice system show even an ounce of leniency when weighing whether that person should be put to death?
If the death penalty is not enacted upon Tsarnaev for his actions, what is the point of allowing him to continue living? Life in prison cannot truly be considered a punishment to those that care so little about the sanctity of life. Modern correctional institutions provide the necessities of food and shelter that many deserving American citizens do not even possess. Some people would commit murder just to have three hot meals and a warm bed to sleep in, so someone that kills for fun should not be afforded those luxuries.
If Tsarnaev is not put to death, what kind of message does that send to other would-be killers in the world? People cannot be permitted to commit these acts of violence and be punished by getting warm meals and a bed to sleep in. If we do not deal true justice to this terrorist, it would show weakness on the part of the American justice system. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev should be put to death for the slaughter of two innocent women and a young boy at the Boston Marathon, as well as for the innumerable lives he has permanently damaged.