Analysis of Theodore Kaczynski Terrorist or Serial Killer essays

Analysis of Theodore Kaczynski Terrorist or Serial Killer essays The purpose of this paper is to introduce, discuss, and analyze the topic of criminal justice. Specifically it will discuss the "Unabomber," Ted Kaczynski, and whether Kaczynski should be classified as a terrorist or a serial killer, including the difference between the two classifications. Ted Kaczynski, a reclusive loaner at war with American societal values, created a wave of terror when he randomly sent bomb packages to people in several states. Convicted as the "Unabomber" in 1998 to life in prison, Kaczynski shows classic symptoms of mental disorders associated with serial killers; however, Kaczynski was a terrorist pure and simple. He waged violence against innocent victims as a sad protest against American societal values, and as such, created a wave of terror and confusion until he was caught and tried. He currently serves a life sentence in a California prison. Ted Kaczynski is a legend in America's criminal justice system in that his homemade letter bombs continued for eighteen years before the FBI finally caught him. Kaczynski did not start out as the reclusive backwoodsman who shunned technology and American society. In fact, for the early years of his adult life, he was part of mainstream society. He was a university professor and mathematician who came to believe, in fact nearly worship the notions that society was doomed because of its general acceptance of technology, politics, and even public relations that "suppresses individual freedom and destroys nature. 'The system does not and cannot exist to satisfy human needs. Instead, it is human behavior that has to be modified to fit the needs of the system'" (Chase, 2000, p. 41), he wrote in his "Manifesto." Kaczynski gave up his professorship at the University of California at Berkeley, and moved to the Montana wilderness in 1971. In 1978, he sent out his first mail bomb, and the rest is history. The Unabomber investigation is reputed to be the most expe...