A Tale of Two Criminals

So, I saw two unrelated stories today that, juxtaposed, tell us a lot about the US and UK.

The first was that Manson Family member and would-be presidential assassin Squeaky Fromme is being released soon after serving thirty-four years of a life sentence. Vincent Bugliosi, in HELTER SKELTER, indicated that he believed Fromme had taken part in several more murders, but there was never enough evidence to charge her.
So far as I can tell, there's no outrage that Manson's successor as the leader of The Family will soon be out again.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/06/lynette-squeaky-fromme-ma_n_253050.html


The second was that the mastermind of The Great Train Robbery from forty-six years ago is about to be released from prison,* over the strong objections of the train driver's union. Apparently a member of his gang knocked a person out during the course of the robbery. The criminal in question is bedridden and terminally ill, not to mention eighty years old.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/06/ronnie-biggs-great-train-_n_253118.html

I think the disparity of the response says a lot about the relative violence levels between our two countries.

--John R.

current reading: the 'Science' chapter from BLACK ATHENA REVISITED, ed. Lefkowitz & Rogers [1996]




*I shd point out that he hasn't been in prison all these years, having escaped early on and fled the country, only returning a decade or so ago to voluntarily be re-imprisoned.