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??

But you and bash can't expect other posters to agree with it just because you think it's totally solid!

It's a matter of fact, not opinion. It doesn't require agreement. Undoubtedly if Thompson had been convicted of another offence we would know about it.

Where has anyone defended them? Honestly all these posts talking about defending and sympathising haven’t actually happened so why are people making these assumptions?

And the reason we don’t have trial by victim is because victims cannot be objective for entirely understandable reasons. Added to that, some victims actually have differing levels of thinking, so while the mob like to imagine that if the victim or victim’s family were allowed to make the decisions about the sentence they would have the criminal put to death for instance. And yet there are plenty of evidenced cases from countries where victims do have an input where they have had mercy and where the perpitrators have got off a lot more lightly than they would had there Been a jury.

We all say that we would want to kill the bastard/s whoever they are if it was one of ours. And yet as a rule this doesn’t happen.

As for Mary Bell, she murdered not once, but twice, and I believe even her daughter didn’t know about her past until she was sought out by the tabloids...

Not sure how true that is but at what point does RT or JV right to a new identity trump a woman or partners right to be safe. Particularly if people found out his identity. think about why they need new identities. The fact that their identities were revealed as ten year olds is the reason why, because society couldn’t be trusted not to enact its own vigilante justice. Had they not been named in the first place there would have been no need for new identities.

Says a lot more about society than it does about them tbh.

I'm entirely with you @TheBrilliantMistake , but it's so much easier just to bay for blood.

TheBrilliantMistake "Surely we as a society shaped those children?"

um, no. I think you can make an argument that society shapes certain things, but not right down to the personal characteristics of individuals.

I think Venables and Thompson have been judged by far harsher standards than adult killers of children

They should have been incarcerated for life, in a secure mental health institution.

If their mental health were such that they needed psychiatric treatment in an institution like this, no doubt that would happen. The suggest that we should put people in a secure MH institution when they don't meet those criteria is bizarre. Other issues apart, we simply don't have anything like enough MH places as it is without imposing people on such hospitals who don't need that level of treatment.

I don't think so Adriane, I think it is the same really, I think a lot of people place them on par to Hindley and Brady.

Ariadne "I think Venables and Thompson have been judged by far harsher standards than adult killers of children"

do you mean legally?

I said the same.

They didn’t accidentally hit him too hard or throw something at a playmate who then died... they stole him from his mother, dragged him 3 miles away and beat him to death.

Both from average-ish families, no abuse that I know of.

Also lying originally means they acknowledge that murder is wrong because they didn’t want to get in trouble for having done it.

It makes me angry because I don’t understand it I suppose ... it hints at innate evil ( I know they’re not) because it’s non-sensical that they’d do it.

My DP tried to reason that they were just little boys ... but I know not to kill a child at age 10. I knew it was wrong to hurt living creatures and they did too.

What would you have done if it was your child that was the 10 year old killer of a toddler? A genuine question, not a goody one - would you have supported them through their trial and visited them in custody? Or would the heinous nature of the crime mean you would have to disconnect and leave them to the state to deal with?

GnotherGnu they do! To do what they did to that little boy, the premeditation the type of injuries he had and the sustained nature of it, suggests that there are mental health problems with those boys. NO sane child or person would do such a thing.

I can't believe anyone could believe that they were ever safe to be released back into society after committing such a heinous crime, let alone with new identities. I recall reading that one of them had been returned to jail due to child porn offences too.

I disagree that they should never have been released though ... life doesn’t mean life in the UK and they were 10, they knew it was wrong but can’t be held to adult standards of logic.

It is true that their identies would not be revealed, as 10 year olds, in the society we live in now.

The 16 year old who murdered 7 year old Katie Rough has had her identity protected, even following her sentencing. She will likely always have her identity protected.

And @buckeejit a 6 yo in the UK would’ve been dealt with the same way as they were in Germany ... because 10 is the age of criminal responsibility. Not 6.

Were they abused children ? That wasn’t made clear ...

Great post TheBrilliantMistake

I can't believe anyone could believe that they were ever safe to be released back into society after committing such a heinous crime,

Why? Mary Bell killed two children at a similar age and she has gone on to live a successful life and become a mother.

Of the two boys, one has reoffended with significant repercussions, and the other has not.

Aeroflotgirl, on what basis do you claim to know more about their mental health than the doctors dealing with them at the time?

I fully appreciate that their actions demonstrate massive psychiatric disturbance, but that is not the same thing as requiring prolonged MH treatment over several decades.

Also I am a journalist and was actually discussing this today. Apparently they were known as Child A and Child B in the press until it became so widely known by the public through word of mouth that it stopped making sense to call them as such and the ban was lifted.
It is both illegal and against the Editors Code to name children of any kind in the press unless given express permission by guardian and in criminal cases, the court. Any journalist who did so could be prosecuted and would be un-hireable by any newspaper or broadcaster ever again.

I thought their identity was disclosed because the judge thought it was in the public interest

Their identities were revealed after sentencing to prevent recriminations against other families who had been wrongly identified. It was easier to protect the two families involved than multiple families (most of whom were not involved).

Their identities where already being widely discussed, but a few other wrong names were also in the mix.

Gnother, obviously they do as Venables is a paedophile and still offending, 8 yeArs was not long enough punishment. Either they shoukd have continued their rehabilitation at an adult secure mental health facility or been transferred to an adult prison.

What protection is given to any person embarking on a new relationship? Many women are killed by men who have previously killed. Thompson is never allowed to reveal the identity of his past, so far, so good. Thomson may well not be heterosexual. Venables, who did have sex with one of the prison officers, who was later suspended, can't seem to keep to this strict rule of his release. Both men are released on lifelong probation services.

Both these men have siblings; are they to be hounded for the rest of their lives because of what their brothers did?