Should the teacher who showed suspected Magnotta tape be charged?

UPDATE June 15: The teacher who showed his grade 10 students the video allegedly showing the killing of university student Jun Lin was fired Thursday. Some of his students had rallied Thursday to protest his suspension.

Original post June 14: Montreal police are evaluating whether to pursue criminal charges against a teacher who showed his grade 10 students the video allegedly showing the killing of university student Jun Lin.

The video, which has since been removed by most websites, depicts the graphic killing of a man police believe to be Jun Lin. (Facebook)The teacher was suspended on June 4 after showing the video in a history and civics class at Cavelier-de-LaSalle high school in Montreal's southwest LaSalle borough. That was the day Luka Magnotta was arrested in Berlin in connection Lin's killing.

A 16-year-old student in the class told CBC Montreal that the teacher asked the students to vote on whether they wanted to watch the video. The vote was unanimously in favour of watching it and the class spent about an hour discussing the video.

The school board suspended the teacher that same day and says that all options, including dismissal, are being considered.

The 11-minute video, which was posted on the internet on May 25 and was available for several days before police requested that it be removed, depicts a man believed to be Magnotta stabbing and dismembering another man.

Police say that the teacher could be charged with "offences tending to corrupt morals" in the Criminal Code.

Should the teacher be charged with a criminal offence? Some in the CBC Community seem to think so.

• "Suspended? ... should be charged," said SecondOpinion.
  
  
• "I, for one, am glad that our laws (presumably) prohibit this teacher from being charged with a criminal offence," replied crosman2332. "Despite that what he did was utterly tasteless, the authorities cannot under any circumstances undermine his rights to free speech and free expression; the crimes depicted were not his own, thus I cannot reason to see how he can be charged with anything except being a complete dolt."

What arguments would you give for watching the video or not? Share your thoughts in the field below.



(This survey is not scientific. Results are based on readers' responses.)