Quote:
Originally Posted by Nage Waza
According to many posters here, schizophrenia is treatable and not this guys fault, so he should be let out. What about other criminals? Someone who is drunk and decides to drive? Pedophiles? Someone who is really angry? Someone who is depressed? Is it always about state of mind and if so why is anyone ever really guilty?
The guy may have been the greatest guy ever, but his crime was so bad that he should forfeit his right to freedom.
Jails are filled with people who cannot control their temper - are they not deserving of the same medical help?
Trust me, I completely understand the point some of you are making, I just think the path of letting someone out simply because there is treatment is not reasonable. The punishment should fit the crime.
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I'm not going to let this be ignored. Everything you mentioned is a choice. Drunk driving, choice. Pedophiles attacking children, choice. Someone who acts in anger, choice.
Which comes to the last point you mentioned: Depression. Depression, at least clinical depression, is not a choice. It is a mental illness, just as Schizophrenia is. These cannot be compared to criminal choices.
There was no crime committed in this case. To have crime be committed by definition of law, there has to be a
mens rea and an
actus rea. In laymen's terms,
mens rea is the certainty that there was a guilty criminal intent in the action, and
actus rea is that there was a criminal act committed.
There was no
mens rea in this case. Vince Li had no guilty intent, as he had no control over his mind or the situation. He was suffering from severe delusions which made him act in a way which was beyond irrational. Therefore, in the eyes of the law he did not commit a criminal offence.
That is why this is different from every example you posted. There is obvious
mens rea with a drunk driver (even if he was blizted and couldn't remember the act. It was his choice to get that drunk), a rageoholic, or a pedophile.
Vince Li was a very sick man who damaged a lot of peoples lives and brutally killed another human being. And he is not responsible for his actions. It's not an answer people want to hear, and it's the truth.