Friday, March 6, 2009

Some Specifics Are Needed Here!

The man who decapitated the passenger on the Greyhound was found not guilty by reason of insanity. I find it upsetting when you read about what they are now going to do with him, and it is very short on specifics. From the CBC: Greyhound bus killer will be locked up a long time: mental illness expert

Vincent Li will not be walking free any time soon, says an expert on issues involving mental illness.

(...)

"He will be assigned a forensic community mental health worker — very often a registered psychiatric nurse — and he will be followed up by that … worker and a psychiatrist for the rest of his days, like permanent parole, if you wish," she said.

(...)

If Li were ever freed, he would be reincarcerated at the first sign he was unstable or not taking his medication, said Osted.

How can they be so vague about this? I want assurances that he'll be locked up at least as long as a convicted murderer. It's not good enough to say he won't be free "anytime soon." Or if we set him free, and he starts acting funny, we'll lock him back up.

In my opinion, this man should be hanged. Maybe it technically isn't his fault, but I see no use of keeping him alive. That won't happen, but can we at least guarantee that he'll be locked up forever? I don't care what the Psychiatrists say. They change their mind on diagnosis’s all the time. Keep this danger away from the public forever.

5 comments:

  1. I watched a piece on CBC News not long ago that interviewed a killer who was deemed insane and wasn't held criminally unresponsible for his actions. He served 10yrs and was living and working somewhere in Alberta. He praised the system saying that he was lost without treatment and he would never kill again. He's now "a responsible and productive member of society" and treated as a great success story. They didn't bother interviewing the family of the murdered victim to get their statement on whether this was considered a happy ending to a tragic story. His identity was disguised in the story so they didn't get to interview his current co-workers to see what they thought either.

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  2. Strack: Yeah, and I bet when the trial was over they told the family of the victim: "Oh, don't worry, usually they end up staying longer under psychiatric internment than in a regular jail." Ten years later he's out and living a happy life. That's not right. You still have to pay for what you did.

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  3. Yes, you do. Someone needs to be held accountable. At the very least, once you're been treated you must finish your sentence and in this case it should life without parole.

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  4. I don`t think a week goes by in Canada, where you do not end up being disgusted by our so-called justice system. It is a joke.
    Also, I remember on a CFRB 1010 call in show regarding this murder. The police waited (I think an hour) outside the bus, while the sick-oh mutilated the victim. The radio host felt the Cops should have boarded the bus, and ordered the killer to drop his weapon. If the guy refused the order, the Cops should have shot the guy. Instead the Cops waited around for a SWAT team to show up. The killer did not have a gun, just a knife. What kind of police work is that?

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  5. Yeah, I wondered that myself. Why did they wait? Who cares if they shot the guy?

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