Todd Kowalski, Period 3
Ted Kaczynski- The Unabomber
Background:
 Born and raised in Chicago, IL
 Very intelligent- did well in school
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and has an IQ of 167
Didn’t fit in as a child and was bullied
Graduated from Harvard at age 16 and became a professor
at Berkeley
When he was 30, he quit his job and went to live in the
wilderness in a log cabin
Held strong political views about anarchy and the evils of
modern society
Crimes:
 Mailed 16 homemade bombs to airlines, universities and
computer companies, killing 3 people and injuring 23, from
1978 to 1995
 Aimed to dismantle the industrial world and cause anarchy
 Most recent crime: mailed a bomb to a timber industry
lobbyist on April 24, 1995, his third and last homicide
Todd Kowalski, Period 3
Evidence:
 FBI arrested him in his cabin in Montana, where they
found a wealth of bomb-making materials, one live
bomb, and thousands of journal pages documenting his
crimes
Sentence:
 Sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility
of parole, which he is currently serving in a federal
maximum security prison
Quote: “Rebellion against technology and civilization is real
rebellion, a real attack on the values of the existing system.”
Explanation of Deviance: Anomie Theory
Anomie theory perfectly explains Kaczynski’s deviance. One of the
ways of adapting to conflicting goals according to anomie theory is
rebelling against society. Quoting sociologist Robert Merton, those who
rebel against society “seek to establish a new social order and embrace
a different cultural goal [than the dominant culture].” Ted Kaczynski’s
bombing campaign was a means of, in his mind, sparking a revolution
that would destroy the industrial world. He wanted to establish a new
world order, which in his mind would better serve humanity than the
current system.
Kaczynski sought goals of independence and autonomy. He felt
that his life would be more fulfilling if he did not adhere to mainstream
society’s goals of material wealth and social acceptance. Yet he found
that living independently was impossible, even in the wilderness of
Todd Kowalski, Period 3
Montana: the forest around him was slowly being destroyed by logging
and human development, and the government was beginning to force
him off his land. The only way he thought he could reach his goals was
to resort to terrorism and try to cause a revolution against ht
establishment he so deeply hated.
Rehabilitation or Deterrence: I believe it would be impossible to try to
rehabilitate Kaczynski, but I do think his crimes could have been
prevented by a greater effort by society to accept those who are
different and serve everyone’s needs and desires. The only people who
rebel against society are those who have been failed by it in some way.
Kaczynski had been bullied from an early age because his intelligence
set him apart from others. He found it difficult to hold down a job
because he found work boring and ungratifying. For this reason he
withdrew from society, and he only resorted to violence when he felt
that the life he had created for himself was threatened. If society
considered everyone’s wellbeing, we would have no trouble from
people like Theodore Kaczynski.