Bulger Killer Set Free

[MikeyT]

I can understand reading about it from a neutral point of view. It's a case that is bound to produce conflicting opinions. You've got the crime itself which is undeniably horrendous but then this conflict between what to do with the perpetrators as they are young themselves. Do you effectively say "that's it" life sentence or do you allow them some chance of rehabilitation. It's difficult and then you have this complication with a further albeit lesser crime committed which casts more doubt on whether the offender should be given another chance. 

 

Reading from the parents point of view would just seem ghoulish to me. I wouldn't really want to read that as it is bound to be upsetting but I'm not sure why somebody would want to read it. I'm not really criticising, just wondered why you felt it was worth reading.

There's not a lot that really gets me angry or riled up. But ever since this happened it's just one of those stories that has always been there in my mind as arguably, the worst murder I've ever heard of in this country, coinciding with that is the fact that the murderers were two children committing it themselves and in such a barbaric way.

 

It's only as I've gotten older as well that it really has hit me and this will almost positively sound cheesy as hell but I don't care really, but I feel that people owe it to James to read his story, not just the "ghoulish" parts but also what he was like the 3 years he grew up before that and how the legal system (in my opinion) has failed him and his family at almost every turn in the aftermath of his death. One bit in the book reveals that the two murderers were actually taken to James's grave as a sort of counselling session one time as well. That to me is very ghoulish and Ralph and Denise never knew about that. Hopefully I've answered your question mate. 

[Bettsj2]

The thing I find most laughable is that these cretins all get new identities to start new lives, and so they are protected. That's a load of bollocks to me. They should either not be released at all or if they are not be given new identities.

They can build their life back but their victims families can't?

Only in Britain.

Its not just in Britain. Happens all over the developed world. The only place where the kind of justice being talked about on this thread is dished out are 3rd world countries and in those countries, crime and lawlessness are much higher.

Cases like this stir emotions and bring outcomes that the majority of people dont like but they are a rarity and the rules that apply to them preserce the greater good of a humane society.

You cannot change the rules for individual cases as it sets too difficult a prescedent.

It could be handled in a very different way. If he's been released because he's been evaluated and deemed safe, there's no need for it to have been made public knowledge.

His identity could be changed and nobody would have to go through any kind of upset.

If he's as damaged an individual as many thinks and is bound to re-offend, he's going to do it anyway and his identity wont make a difference to that.

[Captain...]

Its not just in Britain. Happens all over the developed world. The only place where the kind of justice being talked about on this thread is dished out are 3rd world countries and in those countries, crime and lawlessness are much higher.

Cases like this stir emotions and bring outcomes that the majority of people dont like but they are a rarity and the rules that apply to them preserce the greater good of a humane society.

You cannot change the rules for individual cases as it sets too difficult a prescedent.

It could be handled in a very different way. If he's been released because he's been evaluated and deemed safe, there's no need for it to have been made public knowledge.

His identity could be changed and nobody would have to go through any kind of upset.

If he's as damaged an individual as many thinks and is bound to re-offend, he's going to do it anyway and his identity wont make a difference to that.

 

The problem is because of the nature of this case the media would never let it happen, the media won't let it drop and and jump on anything related to Bulger, you have people on social media claiming that they know who the killers are and publishing photos:

 

 

In April 2010, a 19-year-old man from the Isle of Man was given a three-month suspended prison sentence for falsely claiming in a Facebook message that one of his former work colleagues was Robert Thompson. In passing sentence, Deputy High Bailiff Alastair Montgomery said that the teenager had "put that person at significant risk of serious harm" and in a "perilous position" by making the allegation.^[78]

In March 2012, a 26-year-old man from Chorley, Lancashire, was arrested after allegedly setting up a Facebook group with the title "What happened to Jamie Bulger was f**king hilarious." The man's computer was seized for further investigations.^[79]

On 25 February 2013, the Attorney General's Office announced that it was instituting contempt of court proceedings against several people who had allegedly published photographs online showing Thompson or Venables as adults. A spokesman commented "There are many different images circulating online claiming to be of Venables or Thompson; potentially innocent individuals may be wrongly identified as being one of the two men and placed in danger. The order, and its enforcement, is therefore intended to protect not only Venables and Thompson but also those members of the public who have been incorrectly identified as being one of the two men."^[80][81]

On 26 April 2013, two men received suspended jail sentences of nine months after admitting to contempt of court, by publishing photographs which they claimed to be of Venables and Thompson on Facebook and Twitter. The posts were seen by 24,000 people. According to BBC legal correspondent Clive Coleman, the purpose of the prosecution was to ensure that the public was aware that Internet users were also subject to the law of contempt.^[82]

On 27 November 2013, a man from Liverpool received a fourteen-month suspended jail sentence for posting images on Twitter claiming to show Venables.

 

 

There have been other child killings since then, some by children and in similar ways that didn't grab the media's attention in the same way, similar to Maddie and other child abductions. Some things embed themselves into the public consciousness while similar cases just disappear. This is one of those, and nobody connected to it will ever be able to have a normal life.