Let family bury Tsarnaev's body: Column

• The slogan%2C %22Boston Strong%2C%22 has spoken volumes about the character of the people of the city.
• To my memory%2C none of these burials has sparked such an awful outpouring of incivility.
• Tamerlan Tsarnaev has paid with his life for the crimes he reportedly committed.

Ever since the dreadful bombing at the Boston Marathon, I've been proud to call myself a native Bostonian. The slogan "Boston Strong" has spoken volumes about the character of the people and public officials of this great city. But the latest controversy surrounding where to bury — or whether to bury — the deceased Tamerlan Tsarnaev, one of two brothers suspected of masterminding the fatal bombings, has placed us in a not so favorable light.

What some folks here have said should become of Tsarnaev's remains saddens me and disgraces our city. In the midst of the controversy, readers of the website of my local newspaper, The Boston Globe,posted comments of what they thought should be done with Tsarnaev's corpse.

A healthy share of the suggestions have been removed by the newspaper, no doubt due to inappropriate language. And many of the offerings that linger on the site make rather ugly, if not profane, statements about the deceased, his religion, his native land or his family.

Anger permeates reaction

A few readers boldly posted respectful comments only to have them attacked with hateful rebuttals. I would hope that those readers who had constructive things to say would be so bold and daring also to speak up even when their identity is not shrouded by some contrived moniker, such as "BeantownBob."

Through my work as a criminologist, I have focused heavily on mass murder for the past three decades, and I've never witnessed such an outcry over a suspected criminal's dead body.

It is certainly typical for the funerals of mass murderers to be strictly private affairs so as to avoid any interruption from angry demonstrators. Sometimes the graves of mass killers are not clearly marked for fear that they might be desecrated by vandals. To my memory, none of these burials has sparked such an awful outpouring of incivility.

I am well aware of the inhumanity of the crimes alleged to have been committed by the late Tsarnaev and his surviving brother, Dzhokhar. But why should we, as decent people, respond in kind in a manner that is anything but kind? We need not stoop to that level of mercilessness.

Of course, this Boston massacre is fundamentally different from the crimes committed by most of the mass murderers that I've studied over the years. The unusual public response to the marathon bombings and the fate of the suspected perpetrators — be they dead or alive — is not just a function of the carnage caused in the attack but also their country of origin and ideology.

Act of inhumanity

Crimes committed at the hands of other mass murderers tend to be seen as the result of some type of pathology and the perpetrators driven by mental illness.

But the marathon bombings were more political than pathological, and the decision to kill was seemingly made in a decidedly cold-blooded and heartless fashion. It was an act of inhumanity, but not an insanity that otherwise would moderate the public reaction.

In the wake of the bombings, questions have also been raised about relatives of the Tsarnaev brothers. Were they involved in the crime or in promoting the brothers' anti-American attitudes? And, even if having no role in furthering the attack, should they have seen the roots of violence and have taken steps to avert the tragedy?

This kind of finger-pointing at those closest to mass murderers is a fairly common practice. After all, we need to find ways to vent our anger. Unfortunately, that generalized anger often translates into resentment toward anyone, including family members of a murderer, who might wish to grieve the loss of a loved one, regardless of how despicable his or her crimes.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev has paid with his life for the crimes he was accused of committing in concert with his younger brother. There is no purpose at this point to disrespecting and defiling his skin and bones.

This hardly dignifies us as civilized human beings. Besides, obsessing over the burial plan for this suspected terrorist only diverts attention from the more critical concerns about how best to protect America from our enemies.

James Alan Fox is the Lipman Professor of Criminology, Law and Public Policy at Northeastern University.

In addition to its own editorials, USA TODAY publishes diverse opinions from outside writers, including our Board of Contributors.

This column has been updated to reflect the print version of the May 8 version.