Greyhound Killer

Who said anything about him being free? They’ve authorized him to be allowed to walk around the grounds of a Mental Health facility while being escorted by two staff, not set him loose in down town Winnipeg.

Where did HTMF get the reputation that it was filled with bleeding heart liberals?

Nobody doubts that Vincent Li committed a horrible act regardless of his motives/mental condition.  Everybody feels for the victim and his family.

But as a society we mostly agree that killing killers serves no purpose.  If Paul Bernardo or Clifford Olsen received some jailyard justice I wouldn’t lose any sleep, but Li’s case is much different.  So what do we do with him? 

According to CBC, this is what was proposed and now denied.

"The mentally ill killer was set to be permitted escorted walks on the grounds of the Selkirk Mental Health Centre, as of June 7.

The Criminal Code Review Board, which reviews Li’s status every year, decided to follow a psychiatrist’s advice that Li was ready for a ground pass, which would have allowed him to head outdoors at the health centre while accompanied by two security personnel."

On the grounds with two escorts doesn’t appear to be putting the general population at risk. 

The vast majority of people with mental illnesses will never commit the kind of heinous crime that this weirdo did. When a mental illness causes you to do something like that, I don’t think that preferential treatment should be given just because you use your illness as an excuse.

So from my point of view, if they would give a totally sane person who committed a similar crime the same walking privileges, this guy should have the opportunity too.

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I never said anything about them being free. Please, before you fly off the handle, read, and re read my postings.

Judging by the recent crime statistics in Winnipeg, the people there have much more to be concerned about than escorted (by two guards) walks around a Mental health centre.

Despite the histrionic nature of some of the commentary so far, nowhere does it seem that the guy was going to be anywhere but in the custody of Mental health officials, thus he probably isn’t a danger to anyone anymore other than perhaps himself.

We are making many assumptions here, he’s sane, insane, remorseful, a victim of voices in his head?  To play devils’ advocate here, the guy could be playing the criminally insane card, therefore not responsible for his own actions and therefore can live in a facility, be cared for at the tax payers expence for the rest of his life and given the alternative of jailtime and either solitary confinement or if in general population would probably not last 6 months, where would you hedge your bets?  I agree with StackedSports, the uncertainty of it all, leaves me with no sympathy either.  I can only think of the victims’ family and the passengers on the bus and the horror they have to replay in their sane minds for the rest of their lives. Victims also of this horrific crime.

WTF?  I doubt a totally sane person would commit a similar crime, eccentric.  Your post is nonsensical.

I highly doubt he will ever be released,  his walks are with two gaurds,  and he is only walking with meds in his system.

Seeing how he will be there for a long long time,  his behaviour needs to be kept on a normal level.  These walks will help in that goal.  I am sure the staff thier do not want to have to listen to someone go more insane from being locked in a room or building.  Nor should they have to deal with it.

That’s exactly what I’m saying.

Hey if a dog kills another dog, do they suspect it was mentally ill or just put it down ?

I mean whats to stop anybody to say they were mentally, ill i’m sure some could do a really good job of being totally fu**ed in the head.

For anyone wondering.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizophrenia

It would be really hard for someone to act like a schizoprenic, and be diagnosed with it. You’d have to be a REALLY good actor, and even then it’d be hard to pull off.

The actions of Mr. Li are terrible indeed, but, we do not execute people here for crimes that they commit.  Mr. Li will be incarcerated for the rest of his days.  

I think there is another point that has not been addressed in this thread.  That is, people who are mentally ill do not get the care that they need.  There are not sufficient funds, workers available to treat people with mental illness.  I’ve read that many inmates in the general prison population suffer from mental illness as do many homeless people.  If society does not want to have another situation like Mr. Li then perhaps they should treat the ill.

The first step towards that is knowledge and awareness. As I said earlier, people with mental illnesses get the short end of the stick every time. “Oh, we can’t SEE anything wrong with him, so he must be faking.” It’s really sad that this country is actually that intolerant of people.

I’m not intolerant of people with mental illnesses. I’m intolerant of people who kill other people.

And I think that the suggestion that “if society doesn’t want to have another situation like Mr. Li then perhaps we should treat the ill” is unfair to the vast majority of people living with mental illness who won’t ever kill anyone–treated or untreated. He might have been a schizophrenic, but that kind of violent crime is certainly not the norm… unless I’ve missed the latest schizophrenia related beheading.

No it’s not the norm, but if there was more help readily available, maybe that crime could have been prevented. I’m sure you’ve no idea what it’s like living with any sort of mental illness. Unless I’m mistaken. If we had more resources available for people with any sort of mental illness, and we weren’t so intolerant of them, things like that wouldn’t happen. The at risk people would be in control in some way shape or form.

There are numerous resources available for persons with disabilities.

pwd-online.gc.ca/pwdh.4m.2@.jsp?lang=eng

What else do you think we need Bubba? Maybe I’m oblivious, but I dont see what more can be done to make life easier on those that need it.  Please correct me - tell me what more can be done - specifically

As I said. AWARENESS!!!

[quote=“StackedSports”]
What else do you think we need Bubba? Maybe I’m oblivious, but I dont see what more can be done to make life easier on those that need it.  Please correct me - tell me what more can be done - specifically[/quote]

What can be done?  Hire more people on the ground to treat, support people with mental health issues.
Sadly, society does not rate mental illness as a high priority issue.  People with mental health issues who are not supported suffer in silence.  As an example, in our town we do not have a resident psychiatrist or a clinical psychologist.  We have some excellent councillors (who are not doctors) that do an outstanding job, but, they can not help all of the people who need help.

The psychiatrist that DOES come into town, comes in every month, if not every three months, and there is a waiting list to see him. You get to have an hour to talk about things, and really, that’s about it. It takes more than an hour to diagnose someone with any type of mental disorder. Some times it takes months of therapy. They can guess, but alot of times it’s not fully certian.

Stacked, you’re talking to a woman who’s gone through the hoops of this kind of thing. And what I was diagnosed with was fairly simple, but there’s still a lot of other underlying things that could be the matter. But with lack of resources, I likely will never know. And I’m not alone…