Jon Venables is getting paroled.

[BOF]

Denise Fergus is understandably devastated. I was surprised not to notice a thread on this yet- what do people think?

[ClaraOswald]

They'll have had access to that same information last time he was let out and he has gone on to commit more crimes. That worked really well, didn't it?

[TabithaStephens]

Who are the parole board accountable to?

[Wallison]

Floggingmolly, I would guess because him revealing his identity does not only have an impact on him but on the people who would do him damage and thus commit a violent crime; to my mind, it's not in the public interest to reveal information about someone that doesn't do anyone any good and will result in an act of violence being committed.

ClaraOswald, yes he went on to commit a crime. However, most of the time parole boards do get it right. And what is the alternative? Do away with parole boards and lock people up forever? Or allow a bunch of mumsnetters to say who should and shouldn't be released?

[Panonabike]

Arguably it wasn't known that he had any desire to view abusive images. He'd been locked up since he was 10 years old. Which is what I meant by 'risks they currently present' - that one wasn't known in all probability as he had no opportunity to exercise it.
and yes the National Offender Management Service have a duty of care to those under their supervision, and taking steps to ensure they don't end up being knifed by some old testament 'life for a life' type would come under that, I assume. As well as not putting those around him equally in harms way.

[mayorquimby]

"Goody two shoes who think these sort of "people"(and I use that phrase lightly) can be rehabilitated into society"

One of them has been.

"im pretty leftie liberal pansy etc, but i dont think he should be released.
I thought he needed to be given a second chance before, but hes shown hes still a danger to children, and it just isnt wrth the risk"

If agree completely based on the knowledge available to me.

[mercibucket]

nice

mumsnetters who'd like to see 10 year olds hanged/killed by lethal injection/in the electric chair

[Floggingmolly]

Wallison. So we have to continually save people from themselves, no matter what the cost from already scarce resources?
My own view would be let him reveal what he will and let natural justice prevail; but I realise I'll be in a minority of one on that.

[DoctorAnge]

How do the supporters of him on here feel about his penchant for Cat.5 images of child abuse. Considering his past crime? Where do you feel this obsession of his will end?

[Panonabike]

'natural justice'? What on earth does that mean, outside of living like animals in a jungle? Is that what we want for a society?
The likely outcome is that he gets killed eventually, and then we have a one or more murders inside, taking up even more of the public purse, at approx £37,000 per year.
The desire for 'punishment' seems to be clouding an ability to think things through to the consequences stage.

[Panonabike]

I don't think he has 'supporters' here tbh.

[herethereandeverywhere]

A few people on here don't seem to understand the difference between revenge and punishment. It is the mark of a civilised society that our justice system can.

[DoctorAnge]

ok supporters of his release

[CrapsWithBears]

I agree with mayorquimby and NorthernLurker personally, I don't think he should be released, I think he's still a danger, but the law isn't based on my opinion. The parole board have to follow what the law states and not pander to the, understandably, visceral public emotions surrounding his crimes.

[Panonabike]

Dr - yes it makes it more problematic (though I'm not sure we can call it an 'obsession') though there will be a licence condition that he has to register any device with access to the internet to his probation officer and the local Sex Offender Management Unit (SOMU) for checking at any time. < the internet is now seen as part of successful living so banning it;s use entirely is seen as counter-productive>.

[HouseAtreides]

I can't find a link for it, but in one of the Scandinavian countries they had the murder of a young girl by two young boys. The community didn't bay for blood, they looked at what had gone so badly wrong in the boys' lives to make them do it. They rehabilitated them instead of condemning them as evil for the rest of their lives and locking them away like adult criminals.
Annoyingly vague, but I can't remember what country it was so can't find the story.

[CrapsWithBears]

House It was Norway, I remember the case, details here.

[Floggingmolly]

I mentioned natural justice simply because he appears to be voluntarily disclosing his identity. He hasn't been thrown to the wolves; he's had millions invested in keeping him safe, why would more millions being chucked at the problem prevent him disclosing it again?

[CrapsWithBears]

Natural justice, you mean vigilantism? That's not justice.

[Panonabike]

on the Copine Scale 5 thing, the mechanics of it are that they often come in 'packages' of images, so it's not always possible to know exactly what is being received in detail. Also, there is a culture amongst internet offenders to see who is 'brave' enough. IT doesn't necessarily mean they are sexually excited by Scale 5 images, just massively irresponsible and stupid ( and of course adding to the horrible industry by their actions), tho' some may find them a turn on.
But the internet issue will no doubt be part of his risk management package.

[Floggingmolly]

My point is that he appears to be hellbent on revealing who he is, for reasons best known to himself. None of the potentional consequences of this are being forced on him.

[Panonabike]

taking your point Flogging but we do have a responsibility to do what is reasonably possible to avoid a further death and more long term sentences for his assailant(s).

[Growlithe]

I think he is broken, and it was probably the original crime that did it. I think Robert Thompson was the lucky one, he seems to have been rehabilitated, but Venables seems to be over the edge for rehabilitation.

Question is, what do you do with a broken person?

[mayorquimby]

"So we have to continually save people from themselves, no matter what the cost from already scarce resources? "

I think a large degree of it is also saving the public from themselves. A lot of people may feel justified in committing crimes towards him, and not just the big ones (assault etc) or crimes that directly effect him.
There may be a lot of low level vandalism, perhaps arson which would impinge on other citizens and as has been seen before the potential for innocent citizens to be targeted in the belief that its him.


"How do the supporters of him on here feel about his penchant for Cat.5 images of child abuse. Considering his past crime? Where do you feel this obsession of his will end?"

Nobody is supporting him, very few are even supporting his release. The most positive thing said in his favour has been people saying that they have faith in the parole board.
What people are saying is that this does not justify the attitude that 10 year olds who commit horrific acts should be locked up for life based on the belief that hey are inherently evil and cant be rehabilitated,because even based on this very small sample size 50% have been rehabilitated.

Even with venables one could still argue that the public lynching of a 10 year old and trying him as an adult, raising them in institutions and appointing them as the national bogeymen is in fact a way of guaranteeing reoffending

[CrapsWithBears]

mayorquimby Agreed, there's already been a case of someone mistakenly being identified as one of the boys, who ended up committing suicide because of the harassment.

[PeterParkerSays]

I know this is a side issue, but can anyone remember whether Venebles parents were convicted of anything relating to his upbringing? I was only a child at the time, so didn't get to read the details in the newspapers, but I understand that he had a worse upbringing than Thompson, who seems to have been reformed.

As they produced a child who could stone a toddler to death and had an interest in Category 5 child pornography, I presume that questions must have been asked of them regrding how they brought him up / possible abuse. Did anything come of this?