Dangerous Precedent—The Unabomber Case

(Published as a letter to the editor, New York Times, December 5, 1997)

To the Editor:

Re “Brotherly Intervention” (Op-Ed, Nov. 29): We can all be indebted to David Kaczynski for helping the authorities apprehend his brother Theodore Kaczynski, the suspect in the Unabomber case. But there will be little assistance from family members again in such cases if we put their kin to death: this would create too great a moral dilemma for even the most law-abiding among us.

For prosecutors in the Kaczynski case to close their eyes to this human conflict is to create a dangerous precedent. No one else will ever be harmed by Theodore Kaczynski if he is imprisoned for the rest of his life, but someone likely will be if he is executed for his crimes. Here is yet another example of how the death penalty creates problems instead of solving them.

Hugh R. Winig