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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank
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To: Lazarus_Long who wrote (16488)6/12/2001 8:27:03 AM
From: Lane3  Read Replies (3) of 82486
 
I must disagree.

Great. You agree with my point but pick on my examples of differences between the Unibomber and McVeigh other than their political leanings.

Re the number of victims, the public tends to view single events with large losses of life differently than small ones. For example, the public gets all exercised over a plane crash while basically ignoring all the deaths that occurs in cars every day. I suggest that the public sense of outrage is greater with McVeigh. Whether a death penalty should be a function of public outrage or not is another matter. Right now public outrage is a factor in the death penalty.

Re the target, no, killing government employees is not worse than killing FedEx employees. The point I was trying to make is that McVeigh's crime was different in character because his target was the government, the institution rather than the employees. That adds a treason-like spin to the crime. I have a friend who is adamantly opposed to the death penalty but makes an exception for treason. I think there's a difference in character between the crimes.

There are other significant differences between the Unibomber and McVeigh that are relevant in sentencing. Another is that the Unibomber pled guilty. Pleading guilty usually buys a lighter sentence. Yet another was that the Unibomber was schizophrenic--technically mentally ill. That tends to soften sentences as well.

There are lots of explanations of the difference in sentencing. We agree that the political bent of the perps was not the key factor.

Karen
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