Understanding Crime

The Unabomber

Tracing the steps of the criminal justice system through history one discovers that the main goal is to detain the suspected criminal(s) and restore security to society in general. Since the beginning of the criminal justice system attempts to understand the inner workings of a criminal mind and behavior which cause these deviations from normal thinking or acting have been a complex issue of comprehension. What causes people to exhibit certain behaviors that make them criminals? Why are the minds of criminals so hard to understand? What makes criminals act maliciously towards any aspect of society; whether it is towards people or just ideas upheld by people within society? No one really has a concrete answer to any of these questions. Certainly psychiatrists and psychologist would argue that criminal activity is developed through certain exposure and beliefs or simply the idea that someone is “crazy.” The Criminal Justice system says that people choose to commit crimes but what makes people want to perform these crimes. It all comes down to behavior of an individual and beliefs of that individual.

Looking at a more recent case in the criminal justice system, the Unabomber, one needs to understand Theodore Kaczynski for childhood, through schooling, and up to his capture; made possible only by his brother’s aide to the F.B.I. Theodore John Kaczynski was born in a Chicago suburb to Wanda and Theodore Kaczynski on May 22, 1942. Kaczynski’s father taught him how to live and survive outdoors while his mother, Wanda, brought him up reading Scientific American. At a young age Kaczynski became very withdrawn and unresponsive to human contact. Kaczynski skipped two grades and graduated high school in 1958 at the age of 16 where he showed an aptitude for math and making small explosives; the early sings of what he was to become. He later earned a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University in mathematics. After Kaczynski graduated from Harvard he attended the University of Michigan earning a master’s and a Ph.D. in mathematics. Kaczynski life was looking good when he received a job at the University of California-Berkeley as a math professor but after only two years of working there he resigned without an explanation. Kaczynski decides to go back to his roots and live with nature in a shack in the woods of Montana. This is the time where Kaczynski life begins to take a turn to a darker side. Kaczynski begins to write letters expressing his feelings against technology in the early 70’s which would be his motivation for all the bombings.

Kaczynski’s main goal was to wipe out technology or anyone who believed that technology was the way of the future. Kaczynski’s main targets were professors at technological schools or people involved with computers or computer science teachers. Initially, the bombs were of amateur quality and did not cause much harm. The bombs were all hand crafted and carried the inscription “FC” at one point was reported to stand for “F*@k Computers,” but it was later found to mean simply “Freedom Club.” A majority of Kaczynski’s attacks were against computer stores, computer science professors, and programming specialists. What was Kaczynski trying to gain freedom from; all signs and motivation for Kaczynski’s attacks point to his desire for freedom from technology?

In 1995, Kaczynski mailed several letters outlining his goals and demanding that his paper Industrial Society and Its Future which has been commonly called the “Unabomber Manifesto.” The main argument of Industrial Society and Its Future is that technological progress is undesirable, can be stopped, and in fact should be stopped in order to free people from the unnatural demands of technology, so that they could return to a happier, simpler life close to nature. Kaczynski argued that it was necessary to cause a social crash, before society became any worse. He believes a collapse of civilization is likely to occur at some point in the future. If this collapse doesn’t occur that humans will have the same freedoms that our house pets have today, but roles will be reversed. Society as we know it will be dominated by machines. The writing of this “manifesto” resulted in Kaczynski’s capture due to the fact that his brother, David Kaczynski, recognized the style of writing and the anger against technology and the desire to live with nature.

Kaczynski is arrested in April of 1996 at his remote cabin in the mountains of Montana and the trial doesn’t begin until two years after his arrest due to delays brought upon by Kaczynski himself. There was a constant fight over Kaczynski mental state which inevitable also lead to delays. Kaczynski’s lawyers attempted an insanity defense, which he rejected, however a court appointed psychiatrist diagnosed Kaczynski as a paranoid schizophrenia and declared him competent to