by David Gelernter

About the author: David Gelernter is art critic at the Weekly Standard, Chief Scientist at Mirror Worlds Technologies Inc. (New Haven, Conn.), professor of computer science at Yale University and author of the novel 1939 and various other books and essays.

No civilized nation ever takes the death penalty for granted; two recent cases force us to consider it yet again. A Texas woman, Karla Faye Tucker, murdered two people with a pickaxe, was said to have repented in prison, and was put to death. A Montana man, Theodore Kaczynski, murdered three people with mail bombs, did not repent, and struck a bargain with the Justice Department; he pleaded guilty and will not be executed. (He also attempted to murder others and succeeded in wounding some, myself included.) Why did we execute the penitent and spare the impenitent? However...