This is a bit of a follow up on the Bus Beheader post. I had a good reason to say that, while I disagreed about the fact that he was held unaccountable for his actions, I was okay with the sentence he got. Basically, my approach to justice is that there should be a societal gain (not necessarily monetary), or at least no loss in the sentences given. The thing is that every time something horrible happens, there is an increasing number of people calling for harsher penalties. When we do so, we must ask ourselves what we would gain by sending the guy to prison for an extra 10 years or do we want to live in a society that gets rid of its troubles by executing them.
Earlier this week, I was in a discussion with Nouaman (www.khaimi.com, @NouamanK) about how some embezzlers have gotten off lightly maybe (especially in Canada). I do agree that the population who has seen their RRSP accounts go down lower than Montreal's climate might be enraged that a guy made millions ripping them off but their calls for tougher sentences are really just them wanting vengeance. They basically want the person who hurt them to suffer at least as much as they did. This is the eye for eye mentality updated for the 20th century.
But really, why are we putting people in jail? Why do we have a justice system? The reason is to protect the innocent citizens and this is what sentences should aim at. The embezzlers go to prison to prevent them from ripping off other people (this might not be the best way but that's another discussion!). Vince Li is going to a hospital because that is where he belongs. He might not suffer as much as if he was in jail (although that's up for debate) but he will still be separated from a society in which he cannot coexist. This brings me back to what I wrote in the first paragraph… would a harsher penalty make your life safer? If you are saying no, then there is no reason for it.
5 comments:
I think it’s perfectly natural for people to overreact in this case; after all we are dealing with truly a gruesome murder of an innocent person. He was killed for no reason in the public place in the presence of other innocent people who will undoubtly be traumatized for the rest of their lives. And, let’s not forget the shock and trauma this must have caused to relatives and friends of the victim.
Harsher penalty won’t make our lives safer, but I believe that some sort of prevention will. Prison or mental hospital sentence is only after-the-fact and temporary. It’s no more than a bandage. Sure, he won’t do it again, because he is locked up, but it doesn’t mean that it won’t happen again with someone else somewhere else in Canada in future.
If we implement some sort of law that makes it mandatory for people with severe mental disorders to take their meds, then perhaps we will decrease chances of this happening in future and spare the innocent of suffering.
If Vince Li had been forced to take his antipsychotic medication, his victim would have been alive today…
I too think it is natural to overreact in that case but I don't think that it is wanted (or useful).
About preventing crime, we should be really careful about enacting laws that touch people that haven't committed any yet. Psych drugs are effective but there is always the probability of something going wrong. Considering there would probably be a few hundred thousand people touched by such a law, well, that probability starts getting uncomfortably close to 1.
The fact is, however, that we need better targeting and better systems in order to help those with mental illnesses (including depression)
If we didn't react, nothing would ever change. We are humans and humans are emotional creatures, hence we over react. There is no logic in emotion.
I think something has to happen. Cases like these are catalysts and they are important in that something good can come out of them.
If a minority is endangering the majority, then we have a strong argument for mandatory medication if approved by mental health profession (in collaboration with medical, psychological and finally legal).
I disagree by doing this we would take away freedom from anyone. If a person can't tell difference between right and wrong then they should not be walking the streets...
Vince Li is an extreme example (at least in his later stages). We should look at how many mental patients forget or refuse medication and go around killing people. Is that number higher than in the general population?
Surely, that would be a very useful piece of info to know. I'd like to know the percentage of individuals with severe mental disorders who refuse to take meds. It may be a very small number, who knows!
Sure it's an extreme example and that's why people are so outraged. Schizo is serious and complex mental disorder. No question. Hence, there is no easy solution. I think that mental disorders should be ranked by their severity for mandatory treatment. Only then we'd decrease the chances of this ever happening again and innocent people dying so brutally and others being traumatized for a long time.
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