James Bulger's mother demands right to find freed killers

[suzywong]

as reported in the \link{http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/story_pages/news/news1.shtml\news of the world.

Should she have the right?

Discuss

Why should i fear them? I dont think they are going to kill every child in the vicinity. I would be concerned if an adult who had killed children as an adult was living next door. There might be for all i know.

It would depend on whether I thought the murderer next door was a threat to me and mine.

It doesn't sound like these two are a threat to anyone else. They are one of the very few rehabilitation success stories.

And I agree with Hercules - an adult who had murdered children is far more of a threat.

I do agree that vengence benefits no-one. I also agree that they were children at the time and have been rehabilitate.

However, I would think that poor woman wants to make sure that they understand the enormity of what they have done. i would imagine that she feels that until they see her grief they will not be able to do that, and unless they fully accept what they have done, none of them can move on.

This is an awful situation and no-one has a positive outcome. It is too awful for all of them

Typical NOW story though. Exploitative and trashy.

my friend worked with both of them doing psychotherapy - you wouldn't believe what they had gone through as children. (not that that excuses them before I get lynched but an utter tragedy)

Just to come back to Hercules - there are plenty of troubled children around that don't go murdering a 2 year old boy so that is no excuse whatsoever. And no, we don't remember half the things we did at 10 years old and go on paying for them because we didn't murder anyone!!

This country has gone to pot and spends all it's time feeling sorry for and trying to help the criminals and couldn't give a stuff about the victims. It's a bloody joke.

Whatever they went through, while probably extremely sad and shocking, that had nothing to do with Jamie Bulger or his family and they should not have had to suffer as they did. Full stop.

but presumably Nasa what your friend would have heard should have been confidential?

I've worked with kids who have been abused, many HORRIFIC stories but they all had compassion and hearts. I don't beleive you can excuse a crime like that because they had awful childhoods.

should she have the right?

do victims have ANY rights in this country?

Here I am again, playing devils advocate and waiting to get lynched.

As has already been said, had it have been my child, I would have already have tracked them down and retaliated. However, doesn't anyone ever think about how they might feel if they were a parent of one of those two boys.

Imagine having to live with the reality that one of your children, murdered someone. Tragedies such as these, don't only affect the victims families, but also the families of those who have commited the crime.

I too, cannot imagine the pain and suffering that jamie Bulgers mother has to live with everyday. But at the same time she does need to move on with what happened. I am sure that her pain will never go away, but it would be better for her and her family, if it moved into the background of their lives.

yes jampot - it should. She only touched on it very very briefly as she was so disturbed by it. it was certainly not a "ooo guess what" gossip.

Personally I can't imagine for one second what that poor woman must have gone through but I just don't see the value in her being able to know where they are. And I think it's more useful to society to try, where possible, to rehabilitate people rather than lock them up and throw away the key. But of course I've not been through what she has.

Joash, I don't think that she could ever move away from what happened. THat must be almost imposivle to do when a death is natural. But for her it must be imposible.

I think Jamie's mum must have moved on a bit from her poor baby's untimely death but now faced with the fact that her son's killers are free to live the rest of their lives as they wish (happy or not) cannot be doing her any good whatsoever. Im sorry but I've seen the devastation a muder brings to a victims family and yes, they had to resign themselves to losing their dd but just how do they ever get over it and accept that for someone else's pleasure/amusement they will never see their child again.

We're not talking shoplifting from Woollies here.

Is any one excusing the crime here? What they did was awful but i honestly dont think a ten year old should be punished indefinetly.
A dreadful childhood doesnt excuse what they did. Surely we need to question what led them to do it in the first place? They were failed by society themselves and were victims in this whole thing too. Do you really believe they fully understood everything that was going on?
I wouldnt want to live in a society that believed there should be no chance of rehabilition and only suffering and punishment for children who do wrong.
Of course the parents are victims, noones saying otherwise but please remember the two boys were also victims and will also suffer for the rest of their lives as well.

I see how it will always stay with them for instance, I assume any children they may go on to have will be put on an "at risk" register, and yes they will probably always remember what they had done but I simply dont see that 10 years is enough for a crime of this magnitude.

I'm not saying that she should forget the whol thing - what I am saying is that she has to get on with her life.

If an adult had done the same crime then I agree 10 years is not enough for punishment and rehabilitation. But for a 10 year old I cant see any value in punishment lasting 10 years plus. Rehabilitation should last as long as is necessary but not necessarily under lock and key.

To go a little away from the main topic.

How on earth could anyone raise a child in such a way that they could do something as awful as this?

I am asuming that the boys were not found not guilty by virtue of insanity, so they were 'sane'. That being the case, how the hell did they end up the way they did?

Sadly society failed to help them and their family. I dont suppose their parents planned to raise them that way, I assume they knew no better.

that has always troubled me HMB, where on earth did they get the ideas they used? The batteries, etc?

I think the families of these boys should have been investigated thoroughly.

Even if the ideas were spur of the moment, why on earth did they not know when to stop? We those two indivduals particularly ammoral or did they get brought up without the values that would cause others to stop way before?

have the parents of these boys been charged with neglect or similar if their childhoods had been so horrific?

This is a really difficult subject. In 1st year mh nurse training I heard of a forensic patient who had murdered a child when they were a child. They were obviously very damaged to do such a thing to another child and were sent into psychiatric hospital .. and there they remain still. He basically grew up in an institution and will probably die in one too as he is now nearly 60. How come he committs a crime and yes it was murder, but it didnt involve inserting batteries into a babys bottom and the toturing the tot, and he gets incarerated for the remainder of his life and these little bastards get out? Sorry to be so brutal but if they aren't extremely damaged and that was their reason for the crime then they should serve the remainder of a sentence of life. IF they are extremely damaged then they should be in-patients at a psychiatric hospital. Sheesh. Maybe I am too harsh but that whole incident makes me cold.

I know it's not even remotely on the same scale, but doesn't anybody remember starting something as a 10 year old and knowing they were doing something bad - but unable to stop themselves?

I certainly did, and as I already said, I know it's not even remotely on the same scale, but I cen see how things can escalate when you are a child. (no lynchings yet?)