The psycho who decapitated someone on the Greyhound bus...

[LawL]

...found not criminally responsible.

"Vince Li has been found not criminally responsible for the unprovoked killing and beheading of fellow passenger Timothy McLean on a Greyhound bus last summer."

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story ... rdict.html

[scared?]

lol canada...

[DRuM]

"The review board has the power to keep Li locked up indefinitely or, if he is no longer considered a risk, discharge him."


As if a schizophrenic who suffered a major psychotic episode and cut someones head off for no reason could ever be considered safe enough to be released, lol. Why waste public money keeping him locked up, they should just stick a needle in him and end it.

[Tormentius]

Although the ruling does not impose a criminal record Li will be institutionalized for an indefinite period of time while being treated for paranoid schizophrenia. He is quite possibly going to be confined for the rest of his life so he isn't getting a free pass.

[LawL]

"The review board has the power to keep Li locked up indefinitely or, if he is no longer considered a risk, discharge him."


As if a schizophrenic who suffered a major psychotic episode and cut someones head off for no reason could ever be considered safe enough to be released, lol. Why waste public money keeping him locked up, they should just stick a needle in him and end it.

Couldn't agree more.

[Tormentius]

As if a schizophrenic who suffered a major psychotic episode and cut someones head off for no reason could ever be considered safe enough to be released,

He probably won't be released. What he did was horrific but keep in mind Li is seriously mentally ill and didn't have the mental capacity to appreciate the weight of his actions at the time. That's half of what is considered in an insanity defence and the ruling followed that requirement by institutionalizing him rather than imprisoning him.

[DRuM]

As if a schizophrenic who suffered a major psychotic episode and cut someones head off for no reason could ever be considered safe enough to be released,

He probably won't be released. What he did was horrific but keep in mind Li is seriously mentally ill and didn't have the mental capacity to appreciate the weight of his actions at the time. That's half of what is considered in an insanity defence and the ruling followed that requirement by institutionalizing him rather than imprisoning him.

Yep, I realise that. I just happen to take a harsher stance on things like this and murderers in general that many people won't agree with. To me, people that take another life, be it in cold blood or in a fit of insanity are simply not fit for life and should be killed off. They're useless to the planet, hated by the families and friends of the victim and a complete waste of money keeping them alive.

[zeeko]

death penalty = more expensive than life imprisonment. fact.

[Massive Quasars]

I believe Zeeko is correct, though life institutionalization can be much more expensive.

[zeeko]

I hear death penalty is actually cheaper than life imprisonment in Sudan. I guess we're not-so-advanced after all.

[LawL]

death penalty = more expensive than life imprisonment. fact.

Yeah they really need to make the death penalty a much cheaper process, then it would be perfect.

[Dr_Watson]

its pretty cheap in china where they go for the bullet to the head and kick them in a hole method.
I'm not a big fan of capital punishment, but I have no idea why we fuck around with all this elaborate shit. The electric chair was some fucking tower of London torture device shit; whoever thought up the gas chamber was a bit Nazi; then there's the clinical sterility of lethal injection. Just shoot the fucker, eat the 35 cent cost of the bullet and be done with it. If it wasn't quick and painless it wouldn't be such a popular suicide option.

[-Replicant-]

actually, most of the costs stem from the inmate's litigation/appeals process before execution

[MKJ]

Trivia

this is the 40.000th topic in GD.

[Dr_Watson]

actually, most of the costs stem from the inmate's litigation/appeals process before execution

how is that more expensive than life in prison then?
people off death row generally file appeals as well.

[LawL]

Trivia

this is the 40.000th topic in GD.

Good God I fucking own.

[Ryoki]

So what's the big deal, really? The guy was found to be a nutter and will spend the rest of his life institutionalized. Isn't that only just and proper if he's a schizophrenic?

[LawL]

Fuck that shit. You commit an act as heinous as this then you should die. I don't care what excuse anyone comes up with.

[Ryoki]

Ah, i see. I'm against the death penalty as a principle, so i don't agree with that.

[bikkeldesnikkel]

So what's the big deal, really? The guy was found to be a nutter and will spend the rest of his life institutionalized. Isn't that only just and proper if he's a schizophrenic?

I disagree with giving some psychologists the ability to release such a man. The psychological science isn't advanced enough to be able to make such a decision with enough certainty imo.

[Scourge]

Get a rope.

[Ryoki]

Psychiatrists i should hope

I see your concern, but it could be argued that noone other than professionals could make such a decision once someone's been declared mentally ill.
I'm thinking they'll recognize the fact that such a dangerous loony should never be set free again though.

Finding it a bit odd how many of you seem to reject the concept of an insanity plea btw. What the fuck?

[Therac-25]

its pretty cheap in china where they go for the bullet to the head and kick them in a hole method.

I thought China was going the mobile organ harvesting van of death route.

[bikkeldesnikkel]

Indeed, a psychiatrist they would be. But with the data/theories we have now, being a psychiatrist isn't that much. I'd hope they'd also be psychologists in order to further improve/expand/add to theories, especially because these cases seem very fit for that. Them being involuntarily submitted allows for much experiments without the usual needed consent (I'm not talking about inhumane experiments).

And yes, I would hope they'd realise that it's too dangerous to set a person like this free, but you never know. For example the mishaps with 'releasing' TBSers (Dutch name for the criminally insane) shows that they may be too confident in their ability to assess the hazard of releasing them. The brain is much too complex to be able to diagnose it with indirect methods like behavioral analysis, and until we have more direct methods that provide for much needed assurance in these dangerous cases, releasing them shouldn't really be an option imo.

[Plan B]

Finding it a bit odd how many of you seem to reject the concept of an insanity plea btw. What the fuck?

Mirky waters, but in this case, should the fact that he pleads insanity really matter?

Of course he's fucking insane, he decapitated someone, ffs.
There's just a 'risk to society' vs 'empathy with and freedom of an individual' at play here.
Fact is, he's proven to be capable of these acts, so should never be allowed back into society again, regardless of his state of mind at the time.

You can then argue whether the 'humane thing' is to outright kill him and erase this threat to society, or to 'treat' him, but treat him to become what? A better person who swears he'll never do it again? And then what? Set him free?

I'm very much against how the death penalty is arbitrarily and subjectively abused in some countries, where evidence is circumstantial and vague, but some people are just irredeemable, and should be dealt with accordingly.