On April 8, a jury of seven women and five men deliberated for 11 and a half  hours before coming to a guilty verdict in the case against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the man accused of participating in the Boston Marathon bombing two years ago. He was convicted of 30 counts, including conspiracy to commit mass destruction, bombing a place of public use and aiding and abetting in the bombing and the attacks following it, including the death of Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer Sean Collier two years ago. Of these, 17 counts could send him to death row. On April 21, the sentencing phase of Tsarnaev’s trial will start. The jury has to vote unanimously in order to impose the death penalty. How do you react to the guilty verdict, and do you think that the death penalty should be considered?


Prof. George J. Hall (ECON)
My thoughts continue to be with the many victims of the Marathon bombing. I hope they find some solace in the recent guilty verdict.  I have no sympathy for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev; he is a murderer pure and simple. Given his brutal crimes, the Commonwealth should remove him from society for the remainder of his days.  But just because Tsarnaev is a killer does not mean we, as a society, need to kill as well. Going forward, I pray to God for the courage and strength to work to build a world free of vengeance and violence.
Prof. George J. Hall is a professor of Economics. 

Alex Mitchell ’17
I think that it was pretty obvious he is guilty. But I also think that given Massachusetts’ firm opposition to the death penalty and support of due process, killing him is the wrong way to go. I was here when the bomb went off, and I followed the coverage of the manhunt closely. Like every citizen of this great state, I was afraid, and I wanted to see the perpetrators in chains more than anything else. Tsarnaev’s hope was to sow discord in one of the most welcoming and cosmopolitan places on earth. Killing him would not only turn him into a martyr for extremists around the world but also complete his mission of destroying Massachusetts’ most sacred values. Watching my state abandon her principles to satisfy some vengeful bloodlust would be extremely disheartening. I desperately hope that even one juror finds the courage to do the right thing and prevent Tsarnaev’s execution.
Alex Mitchell ’17 is a resident of Massachusetts. He is majoring in Neuroscience and Biological Physics. 

Henry Snow ’17
I think the verdict is certainly the correct one and not a surprise, though I question some of the laws upon which it is based. For example, the idea that a pressure cooker bomb constitutes a ‘weapon of mass destruction’ where an assault rifle would not have is patently absurd. As for the sentence, the death penalty should not be considered. It never should be. Execution is a disgusting and heinous practice, and I’m outraged and ashamed that our government engages in the willful murder of citizens. Killing Dzokhar Tsarnaev will not bring anyone back from the dead, it will not teach him any sort of lesson and will not deter others like him. It will, however, degrade our morals, waste state resources and end a human life that has a non-zero potential to someday better the world—however unlikely that may be, no life should ever be written off. The death penalty is not justice. It is needless violence, revenge motivated by rage.In the end, it should be a choice about how involved they want to be.
Henry Snow ’17 is a member of Amnesty International and Brandeis Academic Debate and Speech Society. He is majoring in Physics and History and is studying Arabic.
Dor Cohen ’16
I am pleased, but not surprised, by Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s guilty verdict, which will finally allow Boston to receive some closure on the marathon bombings. There are both positive and negative aspects to Tsarnaev receiving a death penalty. Tsarnaev is clearly guilty and his actions, which killed four and left hundreds injured, are not undeserving of capital punishment. Further, despite claims that he was manipulated by his older brother, at the time of the attacks Tsarnaev was a 19-year-old college student with the maturity to act independently. However, if death is recommended, Tsarnaev’s lawyers will lead a lengthy appeals process, thus elongating the trial and failing to bring the kind of closure that many of the victims and survivors are anticipating. A death sentence could also transform Tsarnaev into a martyr for like-minded individuals, while life in prison would force him to live in desolation and away from the spotlight he sought to achieve. Thus, the best bet would be to simply let the judicial system go through its process and accept the sentence doled out to him.
Dor Cohen ’16 is the president of the Brandeis Pre-Law Society.