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Forums - General - Why is mental illness qualify you to not be responsible for your crime?

Galaki on 04 March 2009

If someone's mentally ill and pose a danger to general public, I'd say, locking up is probably the best solution. It's pretty much a malfunction time bomb that could go off at anytime. For example,

source

Accused bus beheader pleads not guilty

By Dean Pritchard, SUN MEDIA


Vince Li, accused of killing and beheading a passenger on a Greyhound bus, has pleaded not guilty. THE CANADIAN PRESS/John Woods

WINNIPEG -- After repeatedly stabbing Tim McLean aboard a Greyhound bus, Vince Li proceeded to defile, dismember and eat parts of his body, a Winnipeg court heard this morning.

Reading from an agreed statement of facts, Crown attorney Joyce Dalmyn revealed for the first time horrifying details of McLean's death last July aboard a Winnipeg-bound bus.

Li, wearing a charcoal blazer, shuffled into court flanked by three sheriff's officers. He pleaded not guilty to second degree murder.

Both the Crown and defence agree Li is fit to stand trial. Both sides also agree that Li killed McLean but that he is mentally ill and not criminally responsible.

Dahlman said Li took a seat next to McLean following a stop in Brandon. About 20 kilometres west of Portage la Prairie "Li began to repeatedly stab Tim McLean for no apparent reason," Dalmyn said.

"Tim McLean struggled and tried to escape, that is clear because he suffered a number of defensive wounds."


As passengers scrambled to escape the bus, "Li appeared to be preoccupied with Mr. McLean and continued to stab him as he lay on the floor," Dalmyn said.

Vincent Li believed the voice of God commanded him to stab and dismember Tim McLean abourd a Greyhound bus, a forensic psychiatrist told court this morning.

Dr. Stanley Yaren has diagnosed Li as suffering from schizophrenia.

"I believe he was tormented by auditory hallucinations and these took the form of God's voice giving him instructions ... and that he needed to protect himself from evil forces, Yaren said.

Yaren said Li believed he had received a message telling him McLean "was a force of evil that was about to use a knife to execute him."

Yaren said after killing McLean, Li feared he could come back to life.

Li dismembered McLean's body and spread the body parts about the bus "to ensure (McLean) did not come back to life to carry out the execution," Yaren said.

"Having killed him, he was still terrified that through supernatural powers he was capable of coming back to life."

Court heard police officers at the scene saw Li in the bus eating pieces of McLean's flesh.

McLean's eyes and a large piece of his heart have never been recovered and are presumed to have been eaten.

Yaren said Li has admitted most of the allegations against him but "steadfastly denies" eating any parts of McLean's body.

"I can only surmise that he blocked it from his consciousness...that it is too awful for him to contemplate."

Yaren said Li has "the potential for significant recovery" but it will take several years.

News trucks lined the street outside the courthouse more than two hours before the start of the hearing. Inside, a line-up of 50 people waited more than one hour to enter the courtroom.

Nearly two dozen of McLean's family members and friends filled the back two rows of the courtroom, each wearing T-shirts emblazoned with McLean's picture.



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Moongoddess256 on 04 March 2009

how 'bout sentencing him to life... in a padded room? Fair enough?



[2:08:58 am] Moongoddess256: being asian makes you naturally good at ddr
[2:09:22 am] gnizmo: its a weird genetic thing
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halogamer1989 on 04 March 2009
Moongoddess256 said:
how 'bout sentencing him to life... in a padded room? Fair enough?

Short of the death penalty...sounds about right to me.  This is uncalled for insane or not.

 



Tyrannical on 04 March 2009

I don't think innocent by reason of insanity should be allowed as a defense.




Yet, today, America's leaders are reenacting every folly that brought these great powers [Russia, Germany, and Japan] to ruin -- from arrogance and hubris, to assertions of global hegemony, to imperial overstretch, to trumpeting new 'crusades,' to handing out war guarantees to regions and countries where Americans have never fought before. We are piling up the kind of commitments that produced the greatest disasters of the twentieth century.
 — Pat Buchanan – A Republic, Not an Empire

Spankey on 04 March 2009

As far as I remember (it's been a while though) A person has to have capacity to act for it to be considered a crime.
But in a nutshell, the state of insanity allows the capacity to act to not be there, so if his insanity at the time of the act can be proved, he won't have the capacity to be accountable for his actions. Depending on the legal system in use, of course.
But it's a frigging difficult thing to prove.



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Galaki on 04 March 2009

Regardless of the "capacity to act", his mental illness surely pose a great risk to others.

Does it mean I could go about killing people and not be responsible as long as I am mentally ill?



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Spankey on 04 March 2009
Galaki said:
Regardless of the "capacity to act", his mental illness surely pose a great risk to others.

Does it mean I could go about killing people and not be responsible as long as I am mentally ill?

 

Yeah, but thats not the point when deciding whether or not a person can be held responsible for his actions

Look at Dahmer, nutty as a fruitcake, but they found him sane, accountable and guilty.

If he was insane, he probably would still be around today in a mental institution, and possibly not guilty on grounds of insanity.



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FaRmLaNd on 04 March 2009

If someone can't control their actions then they are more of a danger then a fully lucid criminal (although less despicable obviously). However gaol really isn't the ideal place for an insane person for both the regular prisoners and said mentally impaired people.



Coca-Cola on 04 March 2009

Reminds me of that twinkie eating murderer. It murdered but pleaded "not guilty" due to sugar high from eating twinkies. He got off.



Tyrannical on 04 March 2009
Spankey said:
As far as I remember (it's been a while though) A person has to have capacity to act for it to be considered a crime.
But in a nutshell, the state of insanity allows the capacity to act to not be there, so if his insanity at the time of the act can be proved, he won't have the capacity to be accountable for his actions. Depending on the legal system in use, of course.
But it's a frigging difficult thing to prove.

For some reason they have to have the mental capacity to know right from wrong to be held culpable for a crime. Though in my opinion, someone incapable of this is no different then an animal and should be put down.

Yet, today, America's leaders are reenacting every folly that brought these great powers [Russia, Germany, and Japan] to ruin -- from arrogance and hubris, to assertions of global hegemony, to imperial overstretch, to trumpeting new 'crusades,' to handing out war guarantees to regions and countries where Americans have never fought before. We are piling up the kind of commitments that produced the greatest disasters of the twentieth century.
 — Pat Buchanan – A Republic, Not an Empire