The U.S. government should have accepted a plea bargain in the Boston Marathon bombing case and spared victims and their families a long trial that will relive the event’s anguish, argues criminologist James Alan Fox of Northeastern University. Writing in USA Today, Fox says that, “For surviving victims, the trial is not only about attaining justice for the harm and anguish believed to have been caused by the 21-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his deceased older brother, Tamerlan.”
It’s also about finding closure, Fox says. “Not until the legal process is complete will they finally have the chance to “move on” psychologically from the devastating event,” he writes. The rejected plea bargain would have given Tsarnaev a life-without-parole sentence. Federal prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. Fox notes that, “It can take years waiting to witness the execution, an emotional roller coaster ride through each stage of appellate review. Meanwhile, the condemned irritatingly remains a focus of considerable news coverage.”