David Kaczynski, executive director of New Yorkers
Against the Death Penalty, will speak on Tuesday, Feb. 19, at 7 p.m. in
the Nott Memorial.
Kaczynski joined NYADP after a career in social
work counseling troubled teens. He and his wife Linda Patrik, professor
of philosophy at Union, approached the FBI in 1996 when they
began to suspect that David's older brother, Theodore, was the
so-called Unabomber, responsible for a series of mail bombs that
killed three people and injured 23 over 17 years. Kaczynski has said
the couple felt betrayed when the U.S. Justice Department broke
several of its promises and sought the death penalty despite
Theodore's serious mental illness. Although his brother's life was
ultimately spared in a last-minute plea bargain, David received what
he called “a disturbing glimpse into the dishonesty and brutality
of the nation's capital justice system.”
In 1999, the couple traveled to California and
lobbied unsuccessfully for clemency for Manny Babbitt, a mentally
ill Vietnam War veteran. Babbitt, a poor African-American,
was turned in by his brother Bill to the Sacramento police,
who promised that Manny would receive help for his mental
illness and not get the death penalty.
Since Babbitt's execution, Kaczynski has given
numerous speeches and appeared on several national television shows
voicing his opposition to the death penalty.
“The death penalty is wrong in principle, arbitrary and
unfair in implementation,” he said. “In effect, we've linked the impulse
for revenge with a system that reflects the gamut of social inequalities.”
The talk is sponsored by the College's chapter of Pi
Sigma Alpha, the political science honor society. A reception will follow.