Boston Bombing aftermath, any similarity to the Lincoln assassination aftermath?

[Eva Elisabeth]

Sometimes, the boundary between reasoning and excusing seems vague. To reason or cause criminal actions with "criminal insanity" IMO is legitimate, but if the consequence is that those "insanes" are prosecuted less strict (or virtually not at all) than the "non-insanes" because they "are not responsible", it is misused as an excuse. (I'm not focussing on punishment, but on protecting society and preventing future victims.)
I think people need reasons, at best comprehensible ones, and also names to label them, in order to deal with uncommon, shocking human behaviour. It is easier to deal with the reason "he did it for the benefit of his country" than "he did it for his personal ego". And it is still easier to deal with "criminal insanity" than with the latter.

If you agreed in that JWB's main considerable motives were to act for the benefit of "his" confederency and/or to meet and satisfy his internal, inner needs, which of these motives would you consider the leading one? Or were they balanced? Or was the first one ("benefit for Conf.") a pretended "outward" excuse to justify his internal second one to the people or even to himself?

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I hope you'll understand what I mean, I'm not sure if my English is goood enough to put it into the right, accurate words