David Kaczynski is executive director of New Yorkers Against the Death Penalty
(NYADP) and the brother of Theodore Kaczynski - the so-called Unabomber - who
was arrested in 1996 after David and his wife Linda approached the FBI with
their suspicions that Theodore might be involved in a series of bombings that
caused three deaths and numerous injuries over 17 years.
Despite his diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia, Theodore was charged capitally and only avoided the death penalty after his family waged a two-year campaign to convince the US Justice Department that Theodore’s delusions had precipitated his violent behavior. Under pressure from the media and advocacy groups including the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, the Justice Department offered a plea bargain that spared Theodore’s life, but it never publicly acknowledged that Theodore’s mental illness was a mitigating factor.
In 1998, David and Linda received a one million dollar reward from the Justice Department for their role in the Unabom investigation, which they subsequently dedicated – minus attorney’s fees and taxes - to the victims and their families. With help from the Community Foundation for the Capital Region, they set up the Unabom Survivors Fund, which distributed $680,000 to victims of the assaults. David is currently writing a book on violence and healing with Gary Wright, who was seriously injured by one of Theodore Kaczynski’s bombs in 1987.
David will speak to the CADP on Thursday, March 30, at 12:15 in room 110 of
the Law School.
Dismas House is co-sponsoring this event.