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Original poster

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

999 replies

Hairgician · 05/02/2018 21:36

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??

OP posts:
Awwlookatmybabyspider · 05/02/2018 22:10

You can't make that assumption about baby Peter, though. Not all abused and neglected children turn out as evil as those two.

Oblomov18 · 05/02/2018 22:10

Disagree with all the posters saying 10 year olds don't know right from wrong. They do. I appreciate that the frontal love doesn't develop till later. I know they came from difficult families.

But still. They did know it was wrong.
I know 8 and 9 year olds who have very good reasoning about what is right and wrong.
Ask a child, in year 4, aged 9, about bullying, how someone might feel, if someone is nasty to another. They know. They know what's right and wrong.

They may not be able to think through, the entirety, all the ramifications of their actions. But in a base level, they know what's right and wrong.

I know year 1 children who know what's right and wrong.

10?

Come on!!

BifsWif · 05/02/2018 22:11

On the back of that, where is the evidence that either of James’ killers suffered anything like the abuse that killed Baby P? They didn’t.

Elocutioner · 05/02/2018 22:11

It was shocking and depressing at the time how the press and the public bayed for the blood of these two boys.

It's still shocking and depressing. Both boys had horrendous childhoods up to that point and both were failed by adults who should have protected them.

The justice system caved to the demands of the mob instead of standing up for the right way of trying two primary aged children.

Justice was, in whatever messed up way, served.

ghostyslovesheets · 05/02/2018 22:11

exactly Iris

but people like a monster - they like declaring things evil - it's way easier than trying to understand what happened

Jamiek80 · 05/02/2018 22:12

Enidthecat I would point out Mary Bell. Venables and Thompson have offended repeatedly over multiple identities. You can argue it’s a result of circumstances but eventually they have to be responsible and be unfit to be free.

dayswithaY · 05/02/2018 22:12

So what would you propose instead? How would you have dealt with 10 year old killers without involving punishment? Many children grow up without moral guidance and parental love. Look at all the kids that live on the streets in Third World countries. You can't take someone's baby from them in such a brutal way and not suffer serious consequences. My sympathy lies entirely with Denise and Ralph and the life sentence they have been given. Grow up.

IrisAtwood · 05/02/2018 22:12

Jaygee that is a vile comparison and assumption to make.

What’s vile about it?

The children who behave in such horrific ways have backgrounds of extraordinary cruel, profound and terrorising abuse. Normal children don’t behave like that - that is the point.

Elocutioner · 05/02/2018 22:13

There is no such thing as evil. It's just a convenient and trite way of thinking which doesn't require understanding.

FlashTheSloth · 05/02/2018 22:13

Jon Venables as leaked his identity twice. Sounds like he wants people to know just who he is, and for that he should never be allowed out.

Tbh, my sympathy is reserved for the Bulger family, not 2 boys who committed the most horrific crime. I have never been able to read the details of what they did, I know there is more to it than was said on the programme. I cannot feel anything but contempt for the pair of them.

JediJim · 05/02/2018 22:13

I don’t think any sense can ever be made from this. No one can ever really know what possessed them to murder James.
But I find it hard to understand why a parole board released them after a short time in a secure home. Especially if they were parents themselves.

Elocutioner · 05/02/2018 22:14

Comparing those two boys and "normal" 10 year olds is like comparing apples and oranges.

IrisAtwood · 05/02/2018 22:14

people like a monster - they like declaring things evil - it's way easier than trying to understand what happened

Exactly.

Enidthecat · 05/02/2018 22:14

Some abused and neglected children can become the most kind, considerate people because they desperately dont want their own children to experience what they did. Sadly, Some go completely the other way and become the abuser because that is literally all they know. Horrible horrible situation. This thread makes me want to go wake my son up and hold him tight.

worridmum · 05/02/2018 22:14

yes if they did not have anonymity you might as well have shot them as they would of been killed as soon as they stepped out of prison and what society would we be were after someone has served their time to let them go and face near certian death why even bother having a justice system.

If society was better and not so vengeance wanting they would not NEED animonty the hatred spewed on this thread is all the evidence you need why it was necessary for them to have new identities.

Shame on you all you are FULLY GROWN adults wanting to kill children/ demonize seriously damaged CHILDREN and after they servred there time to soicty you want to further punish them by signing there death warrants.

Aeroflotgirl · 05/02/2018 22:14

My only sympathy is for James and his parents. John a enables is still a nasty paedophile.

Screamer1 · 05/02/2018 22:14

I think it's terrible taste to use Baby P as an illustrative example to prove a point tbf.

Elocutioner · 05/02/2018 22:15

It's possible to have sympathy for both two damaged boys and the toddler they killed.

The two are not mutually exclusive

BifsWif · 05/02/2018 22:15

Baby P’s finger nails were ripped off. His hair pulled out, multiple fractures and I believe his back was broken.

How is that a direct comparison to James Bulgers killers? Shall we throw in the names of all the other babies that have died through abuse in order to defend an opinion on something entirely unrelated?

Screamer1 · 05/02/2018 22:17

This is so polarising. Just because you think that the trial, sentencing and reporting could have been handled more sensitively, doesn't mean that your primary sympathies aren't with James's family.

They have been through the most horrific ordeal of All.

Aeroflotgirl · 05/02/2018 22:18

Sorry Elocutioner, I don't, nor should I. I am entitled to my own feelings. I don't feel anything for them. I think they shoukd have been incarcerated for life.

MelanieSmooter · 05/02/2018 22:18

Anyone who thinks this was ‘poor impulse control’ needs a shake! They were 10, not 2. I have a 10 and 9 year old who are both about to turn a year older. My eldest has ASD and poor impulse control associated with it. Both my DSs would competely and utterly horrified to learn of the James Bulger case, and if they then found out the age of the perpetrators I think they’d be terrified, frankly. Terrified that their ‘peers’ could possibly be capable of such depravity.

Poor James and his poor, poor parents. My heart breaks for them every time I see them. I was the same age as James.

SleightOfMind · 05/02/2018 22:18

I’m very glad I don’t have the responsibility of deciding what should happen to children who commit adult crimes. It’s heartwrenching.

I know many people suffer dreadful parenting and go on to live blameless lives but I find it hard to believe a child could do this unless they’d been terribly damaged.

I couldn’t judge a disturbed 10-year-old boy in the same way I would an adult.

Equally, release after 8 years, with a clean slate and shiny new identity feels all kinds of wrong.
There aren’t any easy answers to this kind of thing. I’m just glad it’s so rare.

Samcro · 05/02/2018 22:18

I feel so sorry For the Bulger family. to have their baby murdered so brutally and have to see/hear people calling the murderers victims...awful
8 years for what they did! they never even got to serve time in an adult prison. they get new lives. awful

BashStreetKid · 05/02/2018 22:19

Ten ... You know right from wrong

You simply cannot generalise like that.