killers of james bulger should not have been prosecuted??

[pregnochicklol]

Oh okay, because they're kids they should just be left to be a danger to everyone else?

Is this woman out of her mind?
Prison isn't just about punishment, it's about protecting others!

And I don't believe for one second that they didn't know it was wrong.
When I was a kid a bully (ring leader) tried to strangle my little sister, she was evil. But even her friends (aged around 7-9) realised her behaviour wasn't right made her release her. NORMAL Kids DO know what's right.

Perhaps we should have state controlled public beatings to ensure it is done in the right way.

so its bad to hurt/maim/kill a person if you do it in a criminal way, but it's fine to do it in a controlled, planned and legal way.. yes , that would work

i don;t think the threat of corporal or capital punishment works, after all, it does not seem to stop crime in countries where it is still used.

there have to be other civilised ways to respond to heinous crimes, or we start a slow descent into state sanctioned vigiliantism.

far more crucial to examine why children do this, and have more intervention with vulnerable families from birth if necessary to stop children /teens doing this and becoming the adult who commit these crimes

killing/beating people is a knee jerk response based on revenge that will do nothing but create more hate and anger

You don't have to debate it if you don't want to but I'm perfectly within my rights to disagree with what you said.

This should not be in chat. It should be in the News section. the chat section is not a suitable forum for tortured babies.

Okay I respect all your opinions on this, but many people would stand by corporal punishment working, even for them as children.

"Whether a child should recieve a beating themselves as a direct response to them stoning a small child is debatable."

really!!?

I would have said that common sense would always say it was utter stupidity to give a child a beating!

I agree lulumaan with intervention with vulnerable families

duelinfanjo how would you react if you caught your 6 yr old throwing bricks at a toddler?

It would be my natural response to drag them non too gently away and possibly smack the child myself before sitting them down and asking them what the hell.
Maybe I am incredibly strange?!

Infact all parents reading this, how would you honestly react to catching your 6 yr old child throwing rocks at a small toddler?
In all honestly, what would you immediately do?

If I caought them doing it I certainly wouldn't respond by beating them as you suggested.

Immediately, I'd remove my child from the situation and check the toddler wasn't hurt, and of course apologise to the parent.

Then I'd take my child aside and talk to him, calmly but firmly, about not hurting other people under any circumstances. And I would ensure that privileges were withdrawn and closer supervision applied to make sure it didn't happen again.

I wouldn't hit him, because two violent wrongs don't make a right.

Actually, this is very close to my reality because my son (now 11) has ASD and has been extremely violent and aggressive in the past. He's not now, because he's come from a stable and secure home where such behaviour isn't tolerated and there is no confusion about what's right and wrong. Thompson and Venables didn't have that,and I believe that's where the difference lies between their backgrounds and the average MNer. Their boundaries and understanding of actual/fake violence were very badly blurred IMO.

If my child was throwing rocks at a toddler I'd be horrified. I'd probably seek psychiatric help straight away. A chat would not be anywhere near enough in that situation

I think that Venables and Thompson probably experienced many "good beatings" hence their utter inability to empathise with their victim.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of this case the OP lost me when she stated that two children should have been hanged or beaten.

thing is, my 6 year old would not be unsupervised long enough to be throwing bricks at another child.

a 6 year old is a small child, who needs the watchful eye of a parent/responsible adult pretty much 24/7.

OK. to respond to the hypothetical situation: If my child threw rocks at a toddler; I'd access child mental health services asap. (In addition, I'd almost certainly be examining my own parenting and wondering where I went wrong) I certainly wouldn't throw rocks at them or beat them; what on earth would be the point in that?

Everyone keeps saying Thompson and Venables came from broken homes and probably had beatings etc etc. And yet one of them wasn't. He had been a well behaved child from a happy family, he hadn't had bad treatment and his parents were kind and loving. Do you ignore this on purpose? Does it make it easier for you to understand if they came from a broken home? Surely you shouldn't ignore the facts if you are going to have a reasonable debate.

Was one of them sexually abused? And the other one had older brothers in care? I don't really remember their backgrounds

Its' reported that both boys had traumatic upbringings - some stuff which did not come out until after. Jon Venables was beaten regularly by his mother and drew very disturbing images. Thompson was known to come from very abusive parents.

It's my understanding that, while one of the boys had come from a highly dysfunctional and abusive family; the other was said to be very easily led and possibly had some degree of learning difficulties. None of which makes it ok, obviously, but it goes some way to explaining what happened. You only have to look at the Nazis to understand that human nature can lead people to follow and obey a person with authority, no matter what the agenda. See the Milgram experiment on obedience (1960s?) for more on that.

"Susan Venables was the harsher of the two parents and it was of her that Jon was afraid. Merseyside police clearly didn't like her and briefed the press that her manner in the interview room was inhibiting the confession of her newly-arrested son. The writer Gitta Sereny later reported that police were aghast at her for "constantly repairing her make-up" during this dreadful time".

Here

All this is irrelevant anyway - while I feel sad for two very damaged children, the bulk of my sympathies lie with James Bulger and with his family left behind. Denise Bulger just looks haunted and I cannot even begin to imagine the torment of all this coming up again on top of the torment she must feel everyday.

interesting article JollyPirate.

Thank you.

I was quite unaware of the different levels of abuse going on in each of the families. How very sad. I do hope that the other children in those homes received help too.

Ok I recant everything I said after reading part of what happened. It's completely devastating and really, inappropriate for people (like me) who have little knowledge of mental health and the law, and the details of the case to be debating so casually on a forum such as this. I wont be back on this thread.

Thanks for that. I agree it's very complicated. I'll be training in Forensic rehabilitation after my degree. Hope I can do some good, maybe.

Stuff like this makes me consider changing my career and becoming a social worker like my mum.