Do you think Robert Thompson is truly rehabilitated?

[Cheffymcchef]

As we all know, James Bulger was a two-year-old boy from the UK whose tragic abduction and murder in 1993 shocked the world. Taken from a shopping center by two ten-year-old boys, John Venables and Robert Thompson, his death became one of the most harrowing and widely known cases in modern British history. To this day, nearly everyone who hears his name knows the heartbreaking story and the profound impact it had on public consciousness and the justice system.
both boys were released after serving 8 years, when they turned eighteen. John Venables returned to prison twice for possessing CSAM. He is currently still in prison.
I personally think Venables is sick and can’t be “cured” of his attraction to kids. He will always reoffend imo, even if his devices etc are taken away. He needs to stay in prison. He’s also allegedly revealed his identity and needed several new identities costing the taxpayer even more. I know you get all this “stop it now” therapy- I just don’t think pedophiles can be cured. It’s like trying to do conversion therapy on a straight person.
I don’t know how I feel about Thompson- he committed a heinous murder, but did his time in custody. He’s never reoffended and now allegedly lives with a partner who knows who he is. Can’t remember if he has children. From studying this case, it always seems like he was deemed the ring leader, yet he is the one who has cleaned himself up and stayed out of trouble.
both boys allegedly came from abusive households.
I know poor James' mum will never get over his death. I cant imagine the mixed feelings she must have, she likely thinks it was wrong for either boy to be released so young.
I can’t say I’d be too thrilled about Thompson moving into my area if that’s the case, but truthfully I think if he’s done his time he needs to be left alone now to live his life . But that’s probably a wildly unpopular opinion- because James will never get to live his life.
what do you think?

posted in crime but moved here for traffic

They literally don't. 4 year olds do not know right from wrong because they do not fully grasp fact and fiction as concepts.
And 10 year olds are not usually trued as adults because every single scientific study will tell you that altho they have more of a concept of right and wrong than a 4 year old, they still lack the critical thinking skills, impulse control and clear distinctions between fantasy and reality, that gillick competant adults have.
They should absolutely never have been tried as adults. It was the press circus that caused this.
We can't pick and choose when a child is a child under the law or not.
Would you be saying this if these kids had consented to sex? You absolutely would not would you. Even if they said they had. You'd say "they don't fully understand" "they are vulnerable and must have been manipulated by adults around them"
Why can you not see that how upsetting you find the thing they did does not remove the fact that they were children? You wouldn't hold children as responsible as adults in many other situations. Try and not let your understandable horror at the crime here cloud your logical judgement. They aren't suddenly not 10 years old just because of what they did.

JV crying doesn’t mean he was remorseful. He could equally have been crying for himself and for the fact that he was caught.

That kind of response is fairly normal for criminals.

No, he's still a nasty piece of work.

I read the book years ago and it said that when Venebles mother was took in the police car she was applying her make up in the back. I mean how could you even be concerned with such a thing.

True, Madeleine McCanns parents behaved in a similar bizarre way when she first went missing.

I thought JV had evil eyes as a child and still does from the photograph of him as an adult.

I would presume he had some kind of regular contact with someone related to the police/prison but maybe I’m mistaken.

What photograph of him as an adult?

Probation

Please report your post and ask for James’s name to be changed. It is not Jamie, he was never called Jaime.

But it wasn’t impulse. This torture and murder took place over several hours. They didn’t hit him once and he died.

They had many chances to stop, think, abandon. Then when caught they blamed each other.

As far as being tried as adults, I was too young at the time but there’s stock footage of grown men trying to get at them inside the police vans. The fury must have been astronomical, especially in Liverpool. I can barely imagine it.

Whilst they were children, they (as far as I know) have no cognitive or learning issues, and of course they knew what they were doing was wrong. They’d tried it with another child earlier in the day. 10 years is the age of criminal responsibility in England. I’m not actually sure when this was introduced, but you can be certain that the age was decided after the weight of many experts in the field of child development and brain science was considered.

They’re not victims in this, IMO. And the idea that society as a whole failed those two, I don’t agree at all. Their parents, yes.

I will never forget about her mother washing her cat. Something very very wrong with that.

Be careful.

There one online I will see if I can find it and add it.

I do not think that you can serve justice by punishing children in a civilised society.

I think our society has actually become far too "civilised" in terms of dealing with those that prey upon it, to the cost of everyone else.

why are you bringing this up now?

10 years is the age of criminal responsibility in England. I’m not actually sure when this was introduced, but you can be certain that the age was decided after the weight of many experts in the field of child development and brain science was considered

England is out of step with most other European countries, including Scotland which I think is now 12. It's 14 in most countries, but it's always this case which is cited when anyone suggests increasing the age in England & Wales. I am hesitant to think we are right and the rest of Europe is wrong.

Don’t be daft. People have been prosecuted for that.

t's 14 in most countries, but it's always this case which is cited when anyone suggests increasing the age in England & Wales. I am hesitant to think we are right and the rest of Europe is wrong.

And what then happens in eg Sweden is the gangs send the under 14s to carry out the grenade attacks and shootings, knowing they're effectively untouchable.

I agree that if this were to happen today they would remain anonymous throughout and that potentially would mean they’d have a better chance at rehabilitation.
I don’t buy the What chance did John Venables have, he’s had plenty but he can’t help himself, he’s not ten anymore, he’s in his forties and the world would be a better place without him.
And where does society draw the line on responsibility, 10, 16, 18?
My son has got two friends (in there twenties) One’s mum died when he was 12 and his dad basically abandoned him at home alone for years, sent him money for food and rent but just pissed off with his girlfriend, social services noticed when he stopped going to school at 16.. Years, birthdays and Christmases in his dead mums house with nobody.
Another friend spent his entire childhood with a mother who was addicted to heroin. They are both amazing, lovely men now.
Of course children shouldn’t have to go through this crap but unfortunately lots of them do, it’s not a free pass to murder a toddler.

He is extremely manipulative. That is well documented.

The crimes they committed on James are among the most disturbing any individual has ever done. When you think of crimes in your head, of how to kill someone, what they did went beyond that. You have to have something inherently wicked in you to conceive of what they did. Nature/nurture, yes their upbringing may have meant they had unstable lives, but it doesn't then follow that you carry out a series of heinous acts.

No, I don’t. If you are capable of torturing and murdering an innocent child then you are not capable of being a decent person.

It doesn’t matter does it? They did what they did and they deserve to live with that for the rest of their lives

it is absolutely unbearable to imagine what that poor boy endured at their hands

analysing why they did it is pointless

i do hope their parents reflected on their own role in what happened

yes they should be given a new identity because otherwise there’d be utter carnage day and night for the authorities and that’s a waste of resources

do they deserve to live? No not after what they did

was one of them more influential than the other during the offence? we will never truly know the answer to that

although they were children when they committed the offence it really isn’t an excuse - there are kids being abused and battered up and down the country and intact all over the world but rarely do they go out kidnap and kill a toddler

so do these two deserve any compassion- it’s a no from me

and if you’ve been learning about this at school I’d suggest you go to bed as you’ll need to be up early doors!!!

For people asking about how posters would feel if it happened to their child - I’d be interested to know how parents would feel if their child was a killer like Thompson and if they’d forgive then.