Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je said that society needs to work together to build a safety network. He was responding on Tuesday to the senseless slaying of a 4-year old girl on Monday. She was decapitated by a man they did not know as she and her mother were going to meet her family at an MRT station.
Ko cited last year the stabbing and murder of an 8 year old girl at an elementary school bathroom in Beitou. The murderer on Monday also tried to get into an elementary school and was successfully stopped. But Ko said he was still able to murder a child outside of school, and he was not on the city’s watch list.
The mayor said the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference. He said that society’s safety network cannot depend on just the government. He hopes that citizens in every corner of society can show concern for people around them. He said if high risk people are treated with love and concern, and perhaps even introduced to a religious belief, it may reduce the possibility of them hurting others.
Ko said, "These types of random murders…we’re not exactly sure of his situation but it is clear that most of these people are either drug addicts, alcoholics, or have personality disorders. So society needs to figure out how to care for these people so that they will not harm society. We shouldn’t wait for them to murder someone and then punish them. I think this is a better way."
The murder has led to talk of the death penalty as a way to deter crime. Mayor Ko said the death penalty is a part of traditional culture. But as a scientist, he has studied relevant statistics that show the death penalty does not reduce serious crimes. He believes it is more important to figure out how to prevent these murders.