¶ The effects of what cognitive scientists call time discounting can be felt in  a side-by-side comparison of this morning’s two big crime stories, the capture of Whitey Bulger in Santa Monica and the denial of bail for David Laffer in Central Islip. In a horrific drugstore robbery, Mr Laffer killed four people in cold blood last Sunday in Medford, Long Island. That’s what’s horrific about it: it happened last Sunday. ¶ Whitey Bulger killed quite a few more people that David Laffer, but that was long ago, and the old Boston gang leader has been living quietly in Santa Monica for over fifteen years. Another thing that makes Bulger’s crimes less horrific is what we might call intimacy discounting: Bulger knew some of his victims before he killed them. Laffer’s victims were all strangers — random strangers in two cases.

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This entry was posted on Friday, June 24th, 2011 at 10:30 am.