At round about the same time as the James Bulger murder, another murder of a child happened in Norway, by other children. I remember reading about it and being stunned and surprised by how differently the Norwegian media and justice system treated the case.
The children responsible were not tried, as they were below the age of criminal responsibility, all parties were given extensive therapy and the child-killers went back to school and re-integrated into normal life. At no point did it occur to anyone, even the parents of the victim, that these children should be hounded or even punished. There was a spirit of "Why?" "What has happened in our community to make something so terrible happen?" "how can we make sure it doesn't happen again?" "How can we move on and live with this, without it scarring us forever?" Even in their newspapers. It appears the shameless rabble-rousing of the NOW is absent from their society (what are they missing out on?!)
It struck me forcibly what a very different society Norway must be from here. Overall, murder rates are lower, abuse rates are lower, literacy rates are higher, blah blah - on just about every quality of life index they score higher than us, on every negative index they score lower.
And the parents of the murdered child talked about their grief, how unending it will be, and yet how they are learning to carry on living. When it was suggested that perhaps the children should be punished, they were confused by the question - how can they be, they are just children, was the attitude. It could easily have been the other way around.
I wonder now, if those Norwegian parents are still being tortured today by their grief in the way that poor Denise Fergus is.