C4 now - the James Bulger case **Trigger Warning - Contains Info about the case** (Title edited by MNHQ)

[Hairgician]

Sat watching this now.

I do not accept the view that those 2 boys were treated unfairly. They murdered that poor little boy and they knew what they were doing and that it was wrong.

They should be rotting in jail. Aibu to say justice not served??

you do know the criminal age of responsibility was espically lowered just for this case previously it was 12

I didn't see an answer to this (sorry if I missed a post) but this is simply not true. In England the minimum age for criminal responsibility was raised from 8 to 10 (Children and Young Persons Act 1963); powers under the Children and Young Persons Act 1969 to raise the minimum age from 10 to 14 were never implemented.

The details are what make it what it is. There has actually been remarkably little mention of them on the 10 pages of the thread so far. But then it's quite common to see people relishing being able to say 'some posters are really dwelling on all this, how disgusting' on any thread about violent crime. While continuing to read it.

If it was my post you were referring to Capn, that was in response to many posters surmising that as children they may not have known right from wrong. I find it hard to believe, with the level of depravity they inflicted on James, that they didn't know it was very wrong.

I suppose the randomness makes it disturbing too. I mean little James could have been ours in another time or place. Children do wander off in shopping centres. Depressing sad.
What hits me most is there was absolutely nothing to gain from this tragedy. Nothing at all. They murdered a random toddler and fucked their lives up too.For bloody no reason!!

I think that Venables recall to prison, and the nature of the offences which led to that recall, mean that there should be serious consideration that he is not freed again.

That the other boy seems to have achieved a normal, unremarkable life (and I bet his probation officers were all over him whenever V was in trouble, so not likely he's hiding a double life). I think it is right that both had the chance of rehabilitation.

I call bullshit @WannaBeWonderWoman. Like a pp said - it's prurient.

This whole thread makes pretty grim reading

Who is to say that the murderers could be any of our children too?

How would we feel then about the comments about them here, those 10 year old children?

But it’s harder to think of that because it’s so much darker.

Jasmells, that is an excellent point. I don't know the ins and outs of their background or any abuse they suffered, but if people are saying that they suffered abuse severe enough to psychologically damage them to the extent of murdering a toddler, then the parents should have been prosecuted as well.

Whatever has happened to you in your past still does not excuse barbaric behaviour on your own part. And yes, 10 is plenty old enough to understand the consequences of such actions, even if you have lived with violence your whole life.

Their sentences were almost certainly too light, and there should have been a whole programme of rehabilitation. However, many other murderers get off too lightly too, but it just doesn't always make the news in the same way.

ReanimatedSGB
I still don't see what purpose it serves to go over the whole awful business again and again. Stupid people get to have an outrage-wank, or give themselves nightmares, but nothing positive comes out of it.

Yup.

There's a difference between fault and responsibility. It's notvtheir fauktvthatvthey has a shitty upbringing (lots of people have. They don't murder toddlers) it IS their responsibility not to allow their shitty upbringing to cause harm m to someone else. Lack of Impulse control is not the same as a sustained, protracted attack on a vulnerable person. A shitty upbringing can obviously cause problems in managing emotional responses. You'd be hard pushed to genuinely think that a shitty upbringing was sufficient reason to mitigate the brutality these boys meted out to James Bulger. They knew what they were doing was wrong. They just didn't care enough to stop before it was too late.

Well Venables was charged recently for child porn. I guess the judge will have a lot to think about on his sentencing. I hope he’s gets a long time in custody, he’s clearly a danger to the public and himself.

The whole case so so depressing.

At what age are children from ‘bad backgrounds’ responsible for their behaviour, if not at 10? 12 maybe? Or 16?

When do they become responsible?

My 7 year old was playing with my 2 year old. 2 year old gets his finger trapped in a book, 7 year old hears him crying and helps free his fingers. Not squash the book further to increase his pain.

To walk a 2 year old nearly 3 miles was calculated. James was crying all the time. No empathy. Never stopped causing pain. Not normal.

Worst part is they are out and about, and someone’s daughter is dating one of them, or has met one of them, or might have a baby with one of them. But they won’t know what they did.

I’m not for the death penalty. But, I have a 2 year old boy - and the unimaginable happening - they could be 10, they could be 15, the worst childhood possible - it wouldn’t matter a jot. For a human to inflict such pain on an innocent toddler, mustn’t go unpunished. They got off lightly.

And, guilt won’t keep them up at night. Psychopaths have no empathy.

I realise there are bigger issues in this thread but please will posters stop using the phrase child porn. There is no such thing! It is images of sexual abuse.

Yes they were responsible for their behavior. They were old enough to know what they were doing was wrong.
But they were 10 and should not have been tried in a full adult court. And yes, rehabilitation was the right track to go.

Seeing as children cannot be deemed “Fraser Competant” until they are 14 I think it was pretty piss poor that these children we tried as adults.

Whatever has happened to you in your past still does not excuse barbaric behaviour on your own part.

I agree. But it wasn't their past and obviously they didn't have an adult's perspective on one thing not excusing the other. My view I'd that yes, they knew it was wrong but they didn't fully understand as an adult would but do whatever reasons they were drawn to one another in anger and cruelty, likely based on the impact of their upbringing.

*were

And there are very few cases of children this young killing. So it is impossible to know if attempts at rehabilitation will be successful. But they should be tried.

I can't bring myself to watch this. But am aware that psychopathy is not something you can be rehabilitated from.

There’s no such thing as ‘child porn’, children can’t consent to their images being recorded when being abused, children don’t make porn, it’s ‘images of child abuse’, and language is important.

The fact that one has gone on to repeatedly view child sexual abuse is proof that they shouldn't have been released.

No, it's proof that one of them might not have been suitable for release.

We are all of us the people who saw James in distress during that long walk and did nothing.

That's what our society is.

babycinno

That is so depressingly true.

If it had happen in america their would still be in prison

Yes in some US states they execute people with severe learning disabilities