Widely referred to as the greatest travesty since 9-11, the aftermath of the Boston Marathon Bombings is still dominating local and national news. The recently convicted culprit of these heinous atrocities, Dzohkar Tsarnaev, is currently awaiting the penalty phase of his trial which set to begin this upcoming week. Tsarnaev was aided by older brother Tamerlan, who was killed in a shootout against Boston police when confronted.

The motivation behind these bombings is believed to be the result of Islamic extremist influence. Tsarnaev, widely known among his college classmates as religiously driven young man, opted for the more radical strain of Islam. The result of this drastic act of faith sparked a 2.1% increase in Muslim hate crimes. The Islamic Society of Boston’s mosque, located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where the Tsarnaev brothers attended services, experienced a series of harsh community accusations of support given to the Tsarnaev brothers. The Society is adamant in refuting these claims.

Prosecutors are expected to request Tsarnaev receive the death penalty, in light of the ongoing suffering of the victims’ families. The families themselves, however, are expressing different views.

When interviewed by The Boston Globe, the parents of Martin Richard, an eight-year old boy killed during the bombings, stated “The continued pursuit of punishment could bring years of appeals and prolong reliving the most painful day of our lives.”  The Richards have been closely involved with the trial since its start, with father Bill Richard serving as a witness to the prosecution in their endeavor to convict Tsarnaev of thirty criminal counts of bombing, seventeen of which carry the death penalty. His testimony included not only other horror of watching his son’s death, but also that of  the shrapnel that impaired his wife’s vision and the maiming of his daughter, Jane’s, leg.

Martin Richard was one of four people to die as a result of the bombings, yet the injured number in close to three hundred.