In both the US and Canada we have similar law systems, while some would argue these systems are quite different that do have many common areas. One that has been in the media recently in Canada and a story that received international attention was the murder of a Manitoba man on a Greyhound bus, the killer severed the young man’s head. It’s hard to believe another human being could do such a thing especially in this day in age but alas this isn’t a fictional story. What bothers me is how this case has been treated in the courts.
The accused pleaded guilty to the crime as mentally insane and sadly in my opinion the Canadian government agreed and this killer is now going to a mental institute. The problem with this type of punishment is in many cases these killers are supposedly rehabilitated and released and in some cases in only 4 years. I for one am not saying people aren’t entitled to some level of mental rehabilitation. In fact many countries spend money on rehabilitating prisoners and there are some amazing success stories. What I have a problem with are the killers/criminals and lawyers that use this as an excuse.
Isn’t every person that kills another human being insane? How can anyone that commits murder be of sane mind? To me there are murders that are accidental and those that aren’t, everything else is lip service. By using the insane plea as an excuse for what happened means all other killers that don’t request this plea must be sane. Some in the legal system argue there are those that are always insane and those that have moments of insanity, again does it really matter?
Everyone one of us has been extremely mad at another human being one time or another. Maybe it was a classroom bully, a boss, parent, relative or maybe a total stranger. What separates us from the animals is that we can show some level of reprieve when we get to that boiling point. Anyone who kills another human being is missing this off button and therefore again in my opinion is insane. Why then don’t all killers go to a special mental hospital, why is it that only a handful do?
I am not a mental expert and have no formal schooling on the matter, I am however a voter and a tax payer that believes this law and the unjust way of dealing with these crimes is (no pun intended) insane. For all of you politicians that have the ability to make change I really do believe I am one of many maybe even a majority that think this way. Maybe it’s time we take another look at this system, a system that isn’t working.
This article was written by Shawn Wilson, a member of the customer support team at Datepad, where we always offer free internet dating. Datepad has a massive directory of informative free dating articles along with a great list of dating site reviews on our dating blog.