Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post - Man who beheaded fellow bus passenger wants to live on his own

Swift · 02-01-2017, 12:14 PM

I've never really understood the concept of Not Criminally Responsible. I'm not 'frothing at the mouth' against it and I don't have strong principles on it, but something doesn't quite make sense to me, and I'd love if someone could make a case for it.

Here's a question (and I'm not comparing psychological issues with drugs before anyone makes that argument) - Why is Li, for example, NCR for a crime he committed while not being in the right frame of mind, but some guy hopped up on bath salts is held responsible? To me, they're both not in their right mind when committing the crime. Sure, you could argue that taking the drugs was a choice, whereas mental illness isn't, but in neither case was murder premeditated. Same goes for drunk driving.

If a physical body commits a crime, shouldn't that physical body serve the time regardless of what influence their brain was under at the time?

Kind of a devil's advocate position, but I'm curious why society draws the line it does.

02-01-2017, 12:14 PM	#162
Swift Not Taylor Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Calgary SW Exp:	I've never really understood the concept of Not Criminally Responsible. I'm not 'frothing at the mouth' against it and I don't have strong principles on it, but something doesn't quite make sense to me, and I'd love if someone could make a case for it. Here's a question (and I'm not comparing psychological issues with drugs before anyone makes that argument) - Why is Li, for example, NCR for a crime he committed while not being in the right frame of mind, but some guy hopped up on bath salts is held responsible? To me, they're both not in their right mind when committing the crime. Sure, you could argue that taking the drugs was a choice, whereas mental illness isn't, but in neither case was murder premeditated. Same goes for drunk driving. If a physical body commits a crime, shouldn't that physical body serve the time regardless of what influence their brain was under at the time? Kind of a devil's advocate position, but I'm curious why society draws the line it does.