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Original poster

The Bulger killers: was justice done?

999 replies

WannaBeWonderWoman · 08/02/2018 00:07

Following on from previous thread which was filled.

What would have been the correct way to deal with these little boys who subjected a tiny two year old to protracted agony and unimaginable suffering then?

Interested to know what all the bleeding hearts on here believe should have happened? Whether they attended an adult court and were convicted of murder which they confessed to anyway, was this crueller to them than what they put that child through? They were well treated and even when they were serving their 'sentence' they were protected and given all they wanted (more than they would have got if they'd been in their own homes probably) and had all the help and therapy it was possible to give them. Did they suffer? You could actually argue that they benefitted from killing. They have to live with what they've done, yes, but if they did I find it hard to comprehend that Thompson especially (who came across as the leader in the interviews) can.

The Norwegian case which is often compared to this is nowhere similar IMO. The perpetrators were a similar age to their victim. They were 6 which is almost half the age V&T were and they wouldn't have been tried here anyway. Most importantly that crime was not premeditated or drawn out for hours like the many horrors inflicted on James.

He was the only victim here.

OP posts:
Sleepingbunnies · 08/02/2018 15:25

For an even shorter sentence yet my mind boggles...

YetAnotherUser · 08/02/2018 15:26

I didnt read the other thread, but they should have been put to death at the time, save all this money and aggro now, they will never change, never be rehabilitated., poor JB's mother, what a nightmare her life has been, all this protracted agony, if they had been hung/lethal injection at the time, she could have tried to come to terms with it and they would never be free to reoffend again.

I'm confused, are you against killing children, or for it?

YetAnotherUser · 08/02/2018 15:27

For an even shorter sentence yet my mind boggles...

An proper criminal justice system should treat all the accused in the same way. They were children, and they should have been tried as such.

GlassButterfly · 08/02/2018 15:29

How does one interview for an executioner anyway?

Pretty sure the parents would have been willing............

Sleepingbunnies · 08/02/2018 15:32

Agree glass

ChaosNeverRains · 08/02/2018 15:34

Pretty sure the parents would have been willing............ ah yes, revenge, the corner stone of our justice system.... oh, wait....

But that aside, what about the victims of child offenders who don’t have someone willing to carry out the revenge act....

And what if the parents said “actually no, two wrongs don’t make a right, i can’t actually kill someone myself.” What then?

ShatnersWig · 08/02/2018 15:35

Sleeping I am absolutely aghast that you think the state should have sanctioned the killing of two boys. As for your question:

You believe that they should be released? To marry your daughter/son? To raise children?

This has what has happened in the past.

In 1968 Mary Bell was one day of 11 when she strangled, a 4-year old boy. A few days later she strangled a 3-year old boy and went back and mutilated him. This was apparently done in tandem with a 13-year old girl, Norma Bell, who was no relation. Norma was acquitted, Mary was found guilty and was also found to display classic symptoms of psychopathy.

She was released in 1980. Since then she has held a job, become a productive member of society and has her own daughter and is now a grandmother. She has committed no further crimes.

Or you could, of course, have killed her.

Cherrycokewinning · 08/02/2018 15:36

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

GlassButterfly · 08/02/2018 15:38

if they had done that to one of my children, damn right I would have killed them, with my bare hands.

Sleepingbunnies · 08/02/2018 15:39

Yeah possibly cherry

Sleepingbunnies · 08/02/2018 15:39
Hmm
BishBoshBashBop · 08/02/2018 15:40

She was released in 1980. Since then she has held a job, become a productive member of society and has her own daughter and is now a grandmother. She has committed no further crimes.

Whilst the children that she mutilated and murdered, haven't had that opportunity.

I don't agree with the death penalty, but let's not forget what they have done or think everything is ok because they haven't re-offended and have become 'a productive member of society'

Sleepingbunnies · 08/02/2018 15:40

I agree with glass I would want to do to them what they had inflicted on my 2 year old baby.

Sleepingbunnies · 08/02/2018 15:41

Totally bish why should they be afforded the chances their victims clearly aren’t?!

BarbarianMum · 08/02/2018 15:42

Pretty sure the parents would have been willing

Oh OK, so you don't actually have a problem with children being killed, you just think it should be done by adults (as almost all child killing are). In which case, if killing children isn't really such a big deal in a civilized society, why are you so angry at these children for doing just that?

ShatnersWig · 08/02/2018 15:43

Sleeping and Bish How far do you take that notion, though? Someone rapes your adult daughter. Do you go and rape them?

Sleepingbunnies · 08/02/2018 15:44

No, I’d probably want to chop it off though so they could never do that again. Happy?

ChaosNeverRains · 08/02/2018 15:44

And what if the victim’s family asked you not to kill them?

Let’s think about this for a while actually. Fred West/Harold Shipman both committed suicide. I can’t say that I was majorly sad about that fact, but they were both adults and were never again going to be let out following their absolutely heinous crimes, much, much worse than what Venables and Thompson did actually.

But the one consistent message that came back from the families of their victims was that actually, they didn’t want them to die. They wanted them to live, to face what they had done.

So I’m afraid that the idea that the families would have been all too willing doesn’t actually present as true.

Added to that, should mn really be encouraging membership of users who advocate the murder of children? Execution is state sanctioned murder after all....

GlassButterfly · 08/02/2018 15:46

you are forgetting that these are not normal children, they are sexual warped deviants, maybe due to upbringing, circumstance, who knows. But they are not capable of being rehabilitated.

ShatnersWig · 08/02/2018 15:46

Glass Of course, if you killed someone who killed one of your children with your bare hands, your remaining children then wouldn't have their mother as you'd be locked up. If you're a single parent, what the hell happens to your other children then?

BishBoshBashBop · 08/02/2018 15:46

Someone rapes your adult daughter. Do you go and rape them?

No. Plus I never said I agree with the death penalty.

I also don't think it's ok to cast aside what they have done because they haven't re-offended.

The reporting that you posted made it sound just like that. That everything was ok because they had 're offended and were a productive member of society.

What they have done should never be forgotten.

BishBoshBashBop · 08/02/2018 15:47

*hadn't re-offended

ShatnersWig · 08/02/2018 15:48

Glass How do YOU know they are not capable of being rehabilitated?
Is Mary Bell possibly guilty of untold unsolved murders of children that we've never even heard about over the last almost 30 years?

Greyhorses · 08/02/2018 15:48

This story makes me feel physically sick. How terrified that poor little boy must have been.

I have no idea how anyone can entertain the thought that these vile boys deserve anything other than the type of treatment they showed James, regardless of how old they are.

Elendon · 08/02/2018 15:48

It amazes me that the majority of those who support the death penalty also think that abortion is the 'killing of innocent babies'; in other words babies are born innocent and are not pure evil.

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