The child who confessed should get a reduced sentence?

[ElatedShark]

Two young men were killed in Bristol in a case of mistaken identity. 5 killers caught, only one, the youngest child, confessed.

I think he should be given less time than the others due to this and age and the fact prison rarely works to rehabilitate young offenders. It must be terrifying for him.

My heart also goes out to the victims families.
Partner thinks I'm being unreasonable. That's it really.

Here is the story for those wanting more info:
www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5ym7g5dx50o

We've just watched the local news on this and it's horrific.

I personally think the parents of the guilty children should get a sentence too and have other children removed from their so called care. We have to stamp down on this crime.

Terrifying for him!!!! Please do pardon my ice cold heart but I really couldn’t give a flying fuck to be perfectly honest. I’ll save my sympathy for Mason and Max and their parents and families. It’s no wonder the world's in the state it’s in when we have people feeling pity for cold blooded killers

I hope he is terrified and never has a decent night sleep again or has any happiness again !

Yes, but this is Mumsnet, where the appropriate penalty for any crime whatsoever is a whole-life tariff (just as the solution to any domestic issue is LTB), and anyone who argues anything else needs to be told WHAT IF IT WAS YOUR CHILD/BROTHER/MUM WHO WAS THE VICTIM and WHY ARE YOU STANDING UP FOR THESE ABSOLUTE SCUM.

Interestingly, though, when people come in here to ask a question about "I am/my DC is in court on Friday", everyone rushes to offer empathy. Funny, that. It's almost as if we are happy to vent our hatred on strangers, but we suddenly think a bit harder when the person in question is in front of us. Well, I say "funny", but it's been known to be part of basic psychology since writing was invented.

Which is precisely why, in any criminal justice system, you don't allow the victims or their relatives to determine the sentences.

I wouldn't worry OP - as a youth he will get a slap on the wrist and will soon be free to murder more people.

I honestly couldn't care less about what happens to any of them. Having dealt with prisoners in a health related capacity I know that they have no repentance and will just be whining about their own wellbeing for the insufficient time they are incarcerated.

I hope he, and the other murdering scumbags, are terrified and I hope they spend the rest of their lives feeling that way.

in reality, they’ll be well fed and watered at the taxpayers offence whilst hanging out with fellow scum.

meanwhile, 2 innocent CHILDREN are dead.

No. He may have admitted it but still did it.

Prison isn't primarily for rehabilitation; it's to keep dangerous people away from potential victims. I hope he is fucking terrified, but he won't be anyway near as terrified as those two innocent boys were.

Maybe on this thread no one is making excuses except the op but you've never noticed the double standard where people call teen mum's slags and other names until their sweet innocent teenage son becomes a drug dealer or violently assaults another child and it's all "But he's YOUNG just a baby caught up in the wrong crowd" etc etc

I don't know a lot about this case in particular (nothing other than what's been on the mainstream news media), but it's often necessary to offer reduced sentences to someone who confesses in order to be able to secure a conviction of co-defendants. If there's nothing in it for them, no reason to confess, then the whole case can be much more difficult to prove. The courts don't hand out reduced sentences as a reward for the moral probity of choosing to confess, but simply out of a pragmatic reasoning that it may be the only way to get justice done.

In such cases, prison is not about rehabilitation, it's about keeping the public safe from contact with such people while they are locked up. There is very little in the English justice system that would rehabilitate someone who has gone so badly wrong so young. From that point of view, it doesn't particularly matter how many years he gets, he's still going to be a dangerous thug whenever he is released. The most we can hope for is that he's away long enough for the families to feel that justice was done.

He went armed with a machete and admitted killing one of the boys. He's no child. In fact he is the same age as one of the victims. Why do you refer to him as a child and the victims as young men? . He will get Youth detention rather than adult prison to start with. I don't feel sorry for him in the slightest. If you can't do the time, don't do the crime. I hope he gets a minimum of 20 years.

This. No way should he get leniency for confessing to kill innocent people. Imagine this was your family who was murdered.

I understand the theory for reduced sentence for pleading guilty-yet the crime was still committed!

Let's hope nobody hacks one of your children to death @ElatedShark I wouldn't want any more murderers to be terrified.

The man driving the car was in his 40s

Are you for real? All of these murderers should be locked up for life and the keys thrown away. The families of the two youngsters who they brutally murdered have been handed a life sentence - so should they.

“It must be terrifying for him” He had a machete, I’m sure he’s fine.

agree there was intent so i dont feel sorry for him

anoter case a boy o 12 murdered a man for no reason got 8 years what sort of sentence is thar

Spoken like a true bleeding heart, lovey Labour voting Liberal.

15 and 16 year old boys are not “Young men” OP.

OP is just being a GF. These thugs need to be of the street, they are dangerous.
My sympathy is with the quiet young boys and their families. The OP is just ignorant.

It must be terrifying for him.

I'm all out of sympathy.

Why are you referring to the victims as young men and the offender as a child even though they were the same age?

What adults take teenagers out with machetes? He is the leader, his actions resulted in this. If he hadn't driven them anywhere this would not have happened. But all of those who took machetes went to cause harm with weapons that can kill - its only skilled people who can use machetes without killing someone.

The book should be thrown at all of them, yes teenagers are impressionable, but they can't deny what they did and the weapon they chose to take.

Those poor boys so close to safety yet cut down before their lives had really started.

Tragic event, that was completely preventable had the adult in the room acted more appropriately.

This sums it up. I completely agree.He was involved in this. Their intent to harm someone was there, sadly, these two innocent boys died so no I don't believe in reduced sentences in these circumstances.