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Vincent Li Case

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The case of 40-year-old Vincent Li, an individual who stabbed and decapitated a young man named Tim McLean with a large bladed weapon on the Greyhound Bus in Manitoba. After taking the life of McLean, Li then ate parts of McLean lifeless body. Li was diagnosed with untreated schizophrenia. The court deemed him to be not criminally responsible for his murder. NCR for short, means that Vincent Li or anyone who is not of healthy mind are not responsible for his/her actions against the law. Section 2 of the criminal code explained that if one were not of right mind, they would not be able to understand the nature of the proceedings, they would not be able to understand the possible consequences of the proceedings, or have proper communication with …show more content…

For one to be considered NCRMD, we must take a look at the psychological state of Li at the time of his crime. NCRMD is considered a sentence for those who stand on trial. It is section 16 of the criminal code stated one is not held criminal responsible if they were suffering from a mental disorder that cause them to be incapable of understanding the nature of their horrific act. They are not of the right mind to truly commit the act (actus reus), and they did not possess the guilty mind (mens rea) of a criminal. The process that led up this sentence is that Li’s lawyer had to convince the court that Li is suffering from a mental disorder. This is called the defense of insanity. The defense lawyer’s main point is to present fact to indicate that Li suffered from a mental disorder called schizophrenia. One of the symptoms of schizophrenia is delusions, and in Li’s case it was a delusions of grandeur, this meant that a person believed he was an important figure of the world. This is shown when Li stated that he was the second coming of Christ, and through his hallucination he believed he heard God’s voice who guided him into killing McLean (CBC, 2012). Li also had delusions of persecution which ties in with his hallucination as he believed that McLean was an alien and that McLean was out to get everyone and God commanded him to prevent innocent people from getting hurt. These symptoms are a clear sign of Li having schizophrenia, a mental disorder that can alter one’s perception of the world in a horrific manner. Li who is now of clearer mind knows what he did was wrong and that he should be killed. It is shown that people who suffer from schizophrenia is likely to commit a crime (Robertson, Swanson, Frishman, Lin & Swartz 2014). This indicated there are many others who is going through the same suffering that Li is going through. It is not the fault of

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