# Do rampage killers regret trading a life in prison for a brief political/ideological statement? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 5, 2019, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-rampage-killers-regret-trading-a-life-in-prison-for-a-brief-political-ideological-statement/832060 "2019-04-05T00:30:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2019, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-rampage-killers-regret-trading-a-life-in-prison-for-a-brief-political-ideological-statement/832060/21 "2019-04-05T22:36:48Z")
> [@Triskadecamus](#): > > Somewhere an insane looser is reading this, and thinking, “Wow! I wonder how many people I would have to kill to get a thread of my own on the Straight Dope?” > > Tris Martin Bryant, Tasmania > **[Martin Bryant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Bryant)** > > Martin John Bryant (born 7 May 1967) is an Australian mass murderer who shot and killed 35 people and injured 23 others in the Port Arthur massacre between 28 and 29 April 1996. He is serving 35 life sentences plus 1,652 years without the possibility of parole at Risdon Prison in Hobart. > Martin Bryant was born on 7 May 1967 at the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Hobart, Tasmania. He was the first child of Maurice and Carleen Bryant. Although the family home was in Lenah Valley, Bryant spent some ... Stupid insane looser who apparently just wanted to be a famous killer. His ‘status’ in jail is that they had him in protective custody, because the jails are full of people who think that the way to be loved and get status is by killing somebody like Martin Bryant. And apart from the other prisoners, he’s surrounded by prison guards, who, not to put too fine a point on it, are people who think that prisoners should be punished, and who think that the way to be loved and get status is by treating prisoners like Martin Bryant with contempt. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-rampage-killers-regret-trading-a-life-in-prison-for-a-brief-political-ideological-statement/832060/22 "2019-04-06T00:37:19Z")
**[Moderating]** > [@Kimstu](#): > > Allow me to point out that obtaining a factual answer to that question would require somebody’s giving some nonzero fraction of a shit about what these evil worthless wastes of oxygen think and feel concerning their own disgusting contemptible crimes. > > I submit that this would not be a worthwhile use of time for anybody with the opportunity to engage in any of the innumerable and infinitely more productive other activities open to humanity, including marathon viewings of grass growing in real time, or scratching the first million digits of pi in the sand of beaches at low tide. Plenty of people give some nonzero fraction of a shit about understanding the mentality of spree killers, as evidenced by the fact that someone posted a thread about it, and someone else gave an earnest, on-topic reply. Such understanding, as others have pointed out, could hopefully lead to preventing future spree killings. If you do not wish to participate in that discussion, then you don’t need to, but others may if they choose. This is an official Warning for threadshitting. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2019, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-rampage-killers-regret-trading-a-life-in-prison-for-a-brief-political-ideological-statement/832060/23 "2019-04-06T02:51:39Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > It is tempting to try to lump together the different motivations into the same bag based upon commonalities in outcomes but Mandela’s altruism in sacrificing his liberty to oppose apartheid is scarcely comparable in any way to a spree shooter or even a supposed ideologue like Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. Mandela had rational reasons for his opposition to South African apartheid, which was genuinely oppressive and for which there was no lawful remedy. McVeigh and Nichols were motivated by a largely basis hatred and belief in unfounded conspiracy theories. Most spree shooters seek a degee of public recognition and infamy. Ted Kaczynski is clearly demonstrating from some kind of schitzoaffective disorder. Arguing that they are all the same because apparently sacrificial behavior is like attributing all cases of obesity to a single cause. In many cases, the reasons for a spree shooting are simply not rational, at least in terms of achieving a political statement or personal goal; they are the actions of a person who is heedless of personal safety in pursuit of wanting to be seen or remembered as significant regardless of stated motivation. The causes behind this radical antisocial violence cannot be parsed in terms of logic and reason, hence the need to better understand the behavior from a root neuroaffective cause. > > Stranger **Stranger,** this is an important and well-stated rebuttal to me. I was attempting to find an example of someone who had spent a long time in prison and never regretted their actions. You’re right, though, that Mandela was not a good example. The real problem with the OP’s question is that it’s hard to find a mass murderer who actually lived long enough to stand trial and: a) claimed a political motive b) was imprisoned and stayed alive for “20, 30, 40 years” c) is on the record as having either regretted or not regretted their actions and d) isn’t batcrap crazy. That last one is a really high hurdle, because it immediately throws out murderers like Charles Manson and [Colin Ferguson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Long_Island_Rail_Road_shooting). ---
**Author:** ![Capn\_Carl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/838e76/32.png) [@Capn\_Carl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capn_Carl)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-rampage-killers-regret-trading-a-life-in-prison-for-a-brief-political-ideological-statement/832060/24 "2019-04-07T01:27:44Z")
I’ve often wondered what Mcveigh would have thought of the 9/11 attackers, had he lived long enough. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-rampage-killers-regret-trading-a-life-in-prison-for-a-brief-political-ideological-statement/832060/25 "2019-04-07T09:30:34Z")
Some regret it without even going to prison. [ETA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ETA_(separatist_group))’s list of victims include their former operative [Yoyes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mar%C3%ADa_Dolores_Katarain). Several ETA prisoners have eventually expressed regret for their actions. One of the guys involved in the [11-M](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Madrid_train_bombings) murders in Madrid has expressed his regret. In the Spanish prison system, expressing regret can lead to benefits such as being moved closer to home (ETA’s prisoners are purposefully kept away from the Basque areas, from their families and from each other) or being allowed leave. But if you commit a crime of a similar nature again, you won’t see the nice side of a benefit until your grandchildren’s grandchildren graduate from their doctoral degrees. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2019, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-rampage-killers-regret-trading-a-life-in-prison-for-a-brief-political-ideological-statement/832060/26 "2019-04-07T13:08:53Z")
Recently there’s been news reports about Brenda Spencer being up for parole again. As a 16 year-old she committed a ~school [shooting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Elementary_School_shooting_(San_Diego)) in 1979 in San Diego resulting in 2 dead. (Unfortunately these new reports seem to stem from the Daily Fail.) A comment she made to a reporter inspired the Boomtown Rats’ song _I Don’t Like Mondays_. She is supposed to have said that she’s happy that the song made her famous. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2019, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-rampage-killers-regret-trading-a-life-in-prison-for-a-brief-political-ideological-statement/832060/27 "2019-04-18T02:35:55Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > There’s Judith Alice Clark, who drove the getaway car in the 1981 Brink’s robbery carried out by the Black Liberation Army. She finally apologized in 2016, was denied parole in 2017, and will be eligible for parole again this year. > [@](#): > > Former 1960s radical Judith Clark has been granted parole after serving almost 38 years for her role in the 1981 robbery and murders of two Nyack police officers and a Brinks armored car guard. > > The 2-1 decision follows Clark’s parole hearing earlier this month — her second try for freedom since Gov. Andrew Cuomo commuted her 75-years-to-life sentence to 35 years to life in December 2016. > **[Brinks: Judith Clark granted parole in 1981 robbery-murders](https://www.lohud.com/story/news/local/rockland/nyack/2019/04/17/brinks-judith-clark-granted-parole-1981-robbery-murders/3494841002/)** > > Brinks getaway driver Judith Clark has been granted parole after serving almost 38 years for her role in the 1981 robbery and murders in Nyack. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-rampage-killers-regret-trading-a-life-in-prison-for-a-brief-political-ideological-statement/832060.md?page=1)