Vince Weiguang Li - Capital Punishment, For or Against

Question

The VERY horrific murder in Manitoba (please read the yahoo article linked below) a few days ago, sparked a debate on comment board to bring back capital punishment in Canada.

I would like to read your thoughts on this (American and Canadian posters) and what sort of punishment you feel the killer should get.

Here is the article:

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080731/national/mba_bus_stabbing

Please note that the crime is really gruesome so don't read the article if you are sensitive to it. Thanks in advance for your replies.

Answer 1

His crime is absolutely horrible- the act of a madman. I doubt, however, that having a death penalty for things like this will do anything but satisfy the natural cry for vengeance. It certainly would not deter someone from repeating the act - although the notoriety of the crime could actually bring out deranged copycats, particularly if the killer were to face the death penalty.

The killer must be locked up in a totally secure facility- society must be protected from such sick people.

As far as the death penalty itself, Canadians should look at the system in action in the US. As we are seeing, the only purpose it serves is retribution or revenge and that there is a serious and continuing risk of executing innocent people.

Answer 2

I believe that someone as sick as Vince Weiguang Li needs to be lobotomized, either physically (as was practiced until the 1970's) or chemically; otherwise he will forever be a threat to public safety. This individual killed his seat mate brutally, without provocation, and in doing so thus relinquished his humanity. In a few moments, he savagely snuffed out everything this young man was, and ever would be; he forever took an innocent away from his loved ones who will always anguish his loss at the hands of a violent mad man.

The fact remains that witnesses said Li tried to flee after the crime, demonstrating that this individual knew what he did was wrong, thus showing that he was indeed sane enough to know this fact. Therefore, he SHOULD NOT be treated as mentally ill, but as a criminal and face the full wrath of the justice system (which is unfortunately weak in Canada---he's only being charged with 2nd degree murder, which means he's eligible for release in 7-25 years! ). It confounds me that there are so many Liberal bleeding-hearts out there on the blogosphere, and I must say that I'm ashamed of them for not taking a firmer stance in wanting this individual to be dealt with accordingly for his crimes against humanity. A second proposed solution should perhaps be implemented as it turns out that Li is not born on Canadian soil and can thus be deported as he is a former Chinese national. We should therefore let the Chinese government deal with him. After all, a bullet to the back of Li's head, fired by a Chinese officer (or lethal injection by "death van"), would deal with the situation swiftly, and justice would, at least in part, be served; rather than Canadian taxpayers shelling out $40,000+ per year for his incarceration and hundreds of thousands of dollars on his trial.

Now, all of that said, the next step in avoiding this kind of tragic situation again is by implementing mandatory metal detection devices that all bus passengers must pass through as they enter the bus; a device that is situated around the entrance of the bus itself. Let passengers carry what they want in cargo, but on the bus there should be a strict NO WEAPONS POLICY! Now I know that items like ceramic knives may be undetectable, but at least this kind of policy would greatly reduce the chances of such carnage from ever happening again. Perhaps the addition of a guard posted on every bus, as air Marshalls are on US flights, should be implemented as a secondary line of passenger defense as well as making sure that the primary line of screening has been thus enacted without incident.

So, in closing, before all of the bleeding-hearts out there subjectively condemn the majority of my claims, remember one crucial fact: How would you feel if Li had murdered your loved one? Would you still be playing the role of "self righteous" social reformer? Do some real soul searching and think long and hard about your answer before any of you utter a single word.

My deepest sympathies go out to Tim McLean's family and friends.

Answer 3

This story is so horrendous that it should only be in a horror movie. My heart goes out to the victim, the family, and those poor people who will never be able to get this horrible nightmare out of their lives!!! There are sooo many victims here. THE ONLY ONE not a victim is this sick non-human excuse for a man VINCE LI. only being charged with Second Degree murder makes me equally as sick! This man deserves nothing less then First Degree. You don't enter a grey hound bus in the middle of the night with a huge hunting knife unless you plan on using it. Especially the fact that he moved from the front of the bus to the back choosing the spot right beside the victim.

I wish in cases like this our justice system was not so soft. Sometimes I wish Canada in general was not so soft. One article I read actually said the JUDGE wanted to make sure the suspects rights were met in COURT. Excuse me but I think this Loser gave up all his rights the moment he starting his gruesome attack? HE'S not human, therefore he should have NO human rights.  Why the h**l should I have to pay taxes to keep this animal behind bars comfortably for the rest of his life? IN the animal kingdom, animals have no use for the sick, injured, weak. They leave them behind. I think as humans we should have no use for human ANIMALS. So now what, we pay millions of dollars to house this animal till the day he dies. We pay for him to have a lawyer, we pay and pay and pay!!! I say, give the poor kids family the millions, and the poor witnesses who have to live with this nightmare forever. HE deserves to feel pain, and to be wiped out as quickly as possible. Capital Punishment has a place and a time and RIGHT now is the time for this psycho.

Answer 4

I believe in the death penalty for the very worst crimes (not just for your typical murder, eg).  This guy was obviously insane and probably didn't "plan" this in the conventional sense, so I wouldn't think death would be appropriate here.

Answer 5

No, Canada should not have the death penalty and the U.S. needs to get rid of it.

The man who committed this crime is no doubt insane. Someone on here said because he tried to run he isn't crazy? Come on, if this guy isn't nuts no one is nuts. He decapitated a sleeping man and then started eating his flesh and was showing off the head. You can't get more insane than that!

The death penalty is a huge waste of money. It's actually cheaper to send someone to prison for life. It's also sick and twisted. Why does the government have a need to kill in cold blood like sick criminals?

Answer 6

I agree with Stephen.  The guy was probably insane or on drugs.  I'm not at all saying he should go free, but I think the death penalty is inappropriate in this case.

Answer 7

I'm not a proponent of capital punishment for a variety of reasons which I won't get into.  If this person is found guilty of this horrendous crime he should receive nothing less than life imprisonment without any possibility of parole.  Apparently they are only charging him with second-degree murder because they don't believe it was premeditated.  Premeditated or not I believe a person who is capable of such a monstrous act can never be trusted to be free in society again.  It's a possibility that this person could be legally insane.  We'll have to wait and see.  If he is judged to be insane he should be sent to a maximum security psychiatric institution but should NEVER be set free.

Answer 8

I am not an advocate for the death penalty - but I think there are always extenuating circumstances.

Imo, this is one of them.

The Winnipeg free press has reported that not only did Li stab, gut and decapitate an innocent young man - but he also *ate* parts of him. I can’t imagine the horror Tim’s family must be going through, hearing these things about their precious son.

I cannot see how spending tons of money to keep Li alive benefits anyone. Regardless of the speculation on his mental state - the bottom line is he killed a young man in a gruesome fashion. If we put him in jail - we’re paying for his three square meals per day, cable television and university education should he choose it. How is being entitled to any of that a punishment, when many decent hard-working Canadians cannot afford the same?

Can someone like that ever be rehabilitated? Why would anyone want to take the chance of finding out? I certainly don’t want him out of jail with a free pass in 10-25 years collecting government benefits.

I believe that in extreme cases the death penalty is warranted. There is no doubt he did it. Why does he deserve to live a life “being taken care of,” while Tim’s family is left to cope with the loss of their son at the hands of this monster?

The only answer I can come up with is - he doesn’t.

Answer 9

This is just horrific. It's quite obvious that this man isn't right in the head. There are medical reasons why certain people,mainly murderers,who are the way they are.It is usually due to pre-frontal lobe damage which can be sustained at anytime in a persons life and subsequently affects your emotional state. You basically lose your conscience so you feel your actions have no consequences and become cold-blooded.If this is the case i don't think he should be murdered by the state.He should be locked in a highly secure prison for the criminally insane.