The problem with psychopaths is that they don't fear anything, although they may rationalize (in their mind) that some consequence will prevent them from doing

The problem with psychopaths is that they don't fear anything, although they may rationalize (in their mind) that some consequence will prevent them from doing X, Y, Z thing they want to do, and thus avoid it. Anyway, violent psychopaths belong in mental institutions (for life, if it is determined that they remain a threat to society.) I don't think many people disagree with that. This has almost nothing to do with, for example, sentencing on crack being tougher than on cocaine, and rape being worse than murder. Also, most people convicted of crimes aren't psychopaths, although they often have (fixable) mental problems.