Recently in my comparative literature class, we were discussing the advancement of technology since the beginning of the 20th century. At that point in time, it was difficult (in today’s standards) to communicate with anyone across the world. Fast forward a century and we could not possibly be more connected to the rest of the world. This has been made possible by no other than our wonderful friend, the Internet. Lately, I have found myself thinking about this friend quite often. I’m basically on everything; Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr, Google+, Youtube, and now WorldPress. I know I am missing a few, but please do not suggest them because I will join them. It’s a compulsive sickness. How do these websites benefit my life, you ask? Well, I am connected to everyone around me, of course!
Well, I’m not really connected to everyone. This post is not about the barriers that the Internet has created in our lives, though; I will save that topic for a sunnier day. However, I will talk about a few things that I find on the Internet that disturb me. While I am often amazed by the wonderful things we can do with the Internet, I am also often scared by it.
For instance, I was scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed today, and something jumped out at me. It was one of those push sites that I don’t follow but end up seeing some of their random updates anyway. This one in particular was about Vince Li, the man who decapitated Tim McLean on a Greyhound bus. The comments on this article were kind of crazy. People were saying that Li should be eaten alive by dogs, and that only a cry baby has a mental illness. It really, really, really angered me. Let me explain why.
I remember hearing this story when it first happened back in 2008, and I can image my response was something like “OH MY GOD, HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN?!” or something along those lines. And I am sure I was not the only one. I was scared and confused as to how this could happen in Canada. Eventually I found out that Li has schizophrenia, a mental illness normally associated with delusions, such as hearing voices or even seeing people that are not really there. Did this make me less scared? Of course not; perhaps it made me even more scared as I did not understand the mental illness or anything about our justice system. Since then, I have learned quite a bit about it, but I do still continue to learn. The thing about our court system is that it’s quite complex, and continues to develop as our society grows and changes. In a black and white world, Canada’s court system doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense. But in the real world, the different shades of grey world, it gets the work done.
Here is something brief that you need to know.
When a crime occurs, in order for the offender to be charged, there are two things that the court looks at: Actus reus and Mens rea.
Actus reus is the “guilty act”. This requires an action to have happened, and of course evidence that not only did the crime occur, but that the accused committed it. This is the easiest to prove.
Mens rea is the “guilty mind”. This is the criminal intent that the accused had at the time of the crime. This is always the hardest to prove, especially in cases where mental illness plays a role. This is where Not Criminally Responsible comes in. On TV and movies, we see this used in court quite often. For example, in Side Effects, Emily is in a haze when she stabs her husband to death. She is found to be not criminally responsible due to the drugs that she took that make her not aware of her actions. And because we see this one TV we think that this defense is used more often than it actually is. Well, it turns out that it’s really hard to determine whether a person was lucid at the time of the crime unless there are live witnesses to prove it. So more often than not, Not Criminally Responsible is not used, and when it is, it tends to fail.
But what does it mean to be found NCR? Some people think this means that the offender is not punished for his/her crime, and they’re allowed to go on with their lives as if the crime was never committed. I find this a little silly, just because the person has a mental illness that caused them to do the crime does not mean they will be allowed to go as if nothing happened. Where do these ideas come from? Well, I think our idea of punishment heavily determines it. We think that punishment for a crime is simply jail time, and most of the time it does happen that way. But in reality, punishment is taking away things that the offender values, including liberty. This is not limited to jail time, but depending on the type and severity of the crime, it can be community service, house arrest, or any type of punishment that the court finds fit. Also, the point of the punishment is also to make sure that the offender doesn’t commit the crime again. I understand that if we are directly affected by a crime, we don’t really care about the offender, we just want justice served. But truth is, justice is not served if the offender serves 10 years of jail only to come out and commit the same crime again. While in jail, each person needs to go through rehabilitation and prove that they have learned. If they’re not able to show this at the time of their parole, they will not be allowed to go and will continue to serve their sentence.
Well, the same people that think that those found NCR are not punished tend to be the ones who agree that people with mental disorders, such as Vince Li, do not receive the right punishment by being institutionalized in a mental hospital. In my opinion, a mental hospital is the only proper care that these offenders can receive. In a jail, they would not receive the right treatment to become law abiding citizens, and their mental illness would worsen. Not only that, but they would be interacting with the “wrong” type of people that would only impede their recovery.
I bring this all up because Vince Li was found NCR due to having schizophrenia. At the time of the crime, Li believed there were aliens out to get him and was afraid for his own life. He was not aware of what he was doing and acted out to defend himself. Now that he has received the treatment in a mental hospital, he is taking medication and seeing psychiatrists basically 24/7. These psychiatrists that have treated him since he was first institutionalized have said that Li has made tremendous progress and is not at all violent.
What is my opinion? Even though I know that there are problems with our justice system, I believe that the punishment that Vince Li received is correct. I think it has allowed his schizophrenia to be treated in the proper way and that he can contribute to society. I think that we need to be better educated on mental illness before we voice our opinions. I am really bothered by what I saw on Facebook, not only because someone actually suggested Li be eaten alive by dogs, but because lack of education has caused that opinion. Of course, the Internet plays a huge role in that because we can post what we think in any social network without having to know what we are talking about. Instead, we should take advantage of the Internet and gain knowledge. Let’s all do that.
This, of course, has been my opinion (except for the tid bits that are actual fact).
Nadia's Paper Town 