Quote:
Originally Posted by Oling_Roachinen
We got a judge find him not criminally responsible. So he's not a criminal, he wasn't sentenced for the murder. Instead he was sent to a provincial psychiatric facility until such a time that the review board found him to be no longer a risk to public.
It's pretty black and white to me. If the review board, based on the expert opinions of the psychiatrists and other doctors, finds that he is no longer a risk to public he needs to be released under whatever conditions the review board finds necessary. Anything else would be an insult to our justice system. Canada is not, or should not, be a savage country. We should not punish innocent men (and as much as you may argue against it, our justice system did not find him guilty) and we do not act on ill-informed uneducated public feelings (except when it comes to water and dental health  ). If the review board has doubts, those doubts need to be from the experts and not "public opinion."
It's also been a year since he was first granted unescorted day passes to Winnipeg (and before that Selkirk). This has been a gradual process and the doctors would appear to be taking every precaution. |
This is a tough debate. I've usually been the guy preaching to lock someone who does something like this up and throw away the key. And while I've kind of come around lately similar to Polak has, a piece of me still feels it's not right that he's being let out, criminally responsible or not.
I get that he wasn't found criminally responsible and therefore technically isn't a criminal in the eyes of the law due to his mental health at the time. But the fact is, someone cut off Tim Mclean's head. Who did it? Vince Li did. And that is what is pretty black and white to me. And just because a panel of expert doctors and psychiatrists deem him no longer a risk to the public, why does that mean he needs to be released? Yeah I get Canada isn't a savage country and our politician's love the rehab/rehabilitation route. Part of that is what makes this country so great. People may also argue he is an innocent man, and according to the eyes of the law he has been deemed that.
But again, who cut off Tim Mclean's head? Vince Li did. In this case I'm sided with the victims' families. Lost is all of this is how they are the ones who suffer the most with Li's release and will continue to do so for the rest of their lives. And yet Vince Li is recognized by the law as an innocent man who should be given a second chance. What sort of assistance will the victim's get? Do they even get assistance? I'm not sure and hopefully I'll never have to be in a position to find out.
So I'm very much on the fence these days with the whole 'criminally responsible' thing. I guess that is progress from where I used to be (lock up and throw away the key). I'll just say that I'm glad it's not me making the decision to release him, because people's lives are literally on the line. All we can do is hope and pray that the experts who are professionally trained to determine if Li is capable of doing something like this to someone else are correct in releasing him. And if god forbid Li ever does something like this again, those who were responsible for releasing him should be reprimanded and be held responsible for releasing someone like that back into society.