On April 15, 2013, Boston, as well as the rest of America, was shocked to its core by the pressure +cooker bombs that went off and rattled Boston Marathoners and on-lookers.

As we were left to pick up the broken pieces and try to mend the wounds, we were left with many questions, but one important one that stuck out above all the rest: Who would do this?

Within three days, we had the answers, and a manhunt ensued that left a MIT police officer dead. During a fight with police, one of the suspects, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was run over by his brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Later on, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was found hiding in a boat, where police officers arrested him and took him to a hospital.

Now, here we are, about five and a half months after the attacks, and Tsarnaev will soon be sitting on trial to answer for his crimes. However, a new question has risen in light of the trial, and it is one that will have to be answered Oct. 31. If found guilty, should Tsarnaev face the possibility of lethal injection, or should he merely sit in prison and serve out the sentence that could be handed down to him?

There are two sides to this, aside from the obvious in favor and against the death penalty. What must be looked at is if he deserves the needle and if the cost is worth it.

According to an editorial from The Boston Globe, the cost of capital prosecutions can exceed $10 million dollars. In addition to that, cases involving the death penalty and appeals can drag out for many years. Ultimately, this could prove to be a very costly case for the state if it were to drag on for an extended period of time. Will the cost outweigh the chance for the victims to see justice done to those who wronged them that day?

Absolutely not. Although it could prove to be a costly case if this does drag on for a while, Tsarnaev deserves what he has coming to him. It could possibly open old wounds of the victims to see him talked about so much, and it will put him in the spotlight that he and his brother wanted, which is troublesome. We don’t want to glorify his actions and give him the publicity that he so desires, but the American public will want to know what’s going on. The negatives suck, but it is something that has to be done.

Not everyone will necessarily agree with the decision should it be put on the table on Oct. 31. If he is found guilty, which is highly likely with the evidence stacked against him, then he will be lethally injected. If the death penalty is decided against and he is still found guilty, then he will rot in a cell.

Personally, I want to see the death penalty be handed out to him. He may be nineteen and could have been coerced by his brother, which is the only thing that could save him at this point, but he still took part in the events that took place on April 15. I believe he still had the right to say no. Now, with him facing the consequences for his actions, he should simply slide under the radar for the death penalty? No. True, the cost may be high for the trial, but I think it would be almost as much to keep him in prison for so long.

Put simply, let’s just get it over and done with and bring justice to the victims; a life for the lives of so many damaged.