Bulger killers release - just?

by digderidoo 90 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  digderidoo

  With the news that the killers of jamie bulger have been released, it would be interesting to know how people feel.

  From the mcveigh thread it seems that many americans believe the death penalty would have been appropriate.

  I do not know whether many in the US know of the case in Britain of a 2 year old being tortured and murdered by two 10 year olds. But now 8 years later they have been released.

  I know of the arguments that they have been rehabilitated since killing jamie bulger.....but is this really justice?
• 

  Free2Bme

  D
  It seems like 8 months ago not 8 years ago that we all watched those chilling tapes of the boys taking Jamie away. What they did to that toddler beggers belief.I don't care if they were only 10 years old they knew what they were doing was obscene.
  What disgusts me is how society rushes to protect the evil ones. They even have a large sum of money thanks to a human rights case.What a joke. What happened to baby Jamie's human rights on that railway line?
  My feelings are for Jamie's family who are living a life sentence of bitterness and sorrow while the system fusses around the beasts that murdered him.
  Like his mum says wherever they go someone will be waiting for them. Hope they sleep well at night.

  Free
• 

  Englishman

  Jesus, Dig,

  I don't know how you deal with this one. It seems that people are more outraged because this little fella was killed by other children than if he had been killed by an adult.

  I hear that the released perpetrators were supposed to be going to NZ, but that they had been rejected at the last minute.

  Isn't it amazing that by just discussing this we can have our worldly goods taken away?

  Englishman

  ..... fanaticism masquerading beneath a cloak of reasoned logic.

  Here's the story: http://www.crimelibrary.com/classics3/bulger/
• 

  Jang

  If the killer had been an adult he would have been due for parole soon anyway.

  I think that the boys are on permanant parole, have to change their identities and can never have contact with each other is a life sentence anyway.

  They were barely adult in their thinking at 10 years of age .... only just thinking like adults of consequences etc if at all. What has happened during their incarceration is they have been presented with what then did during their formative adult congnition years This will have had a great impact on their conscience as they really gained understanding of what they did.

  I think the boys would be truly remorseful for their actions and should not be punished to the same degree as fully matured adults who knows exactly what they are doing and what torture and death really are.

  Most children have no realy concept of what death is at 10 unless they have been involved in war or accidents where they see the dead for themselves. Even my grand-daughters didn't understand the reality of their sister's death when they were 7 years old and even attended her funeral and saw her asleep in her coffin. It was not until they were about 11 they really understood what death had meant for their sister.

  I feel sorry for the family of James, and I feel just as sorry for the families of these two boys .... and I feel sorry for these two boys because they have to live with this for the rest of their lives ...

  JanG
  CAIC Website: http://caic.org.au/zjws.htm
  Personal Webpage: http://uq.net.au/~zzjgroen/
• 

  Free2Bme

  Well I can remember being 10 years old and egged on to steal sweets from a store.I knew it was wrong and I was terrefied of the consequances. I do not think kidnap and torture and murder would have even entered my head. If it had I am 100% sure I would have recognised it as a wrong act.
  My 7yr old cousin was lured into a disused shop to "look at some puppies" by a 15 yr old who raped her. Nothing happened to him because of his age and alleged mental health issues. Meanwhile my cousin went through hell and was so distraught her hair fell out. She was picked on at school and the family the butt of gossip until they had to move to another area.
  But I suppose I should sympathise with the poor youth and the awful memories he has to live with..
  Sorry no can do.
  To my Uncle justice was racing round the neighbourhood with an axe after he found his crumpled child. Good job he never found him. But who could honestly have condemned him if he had?

  Free
• 

  digderidoo

  most children have no real concept of what death is at 10 unless they have been involved in war or accidents where they see the dead for themselves

  Jang, i know this wasn't the accident or war you speak of, but they did see the dead for themselves, they were there. So you shoot yourself in the foot by saying that these have no concept of death.

  i feel sorry for these two boys because they have to live with this for the rest of their lives

  I cannot see your point of view and how you come to this conclusion. They do have to live with this for the rest of their lives....but that is nothing in comparison to the crime they committed.
• 

  ISP

  Hey dig...was only thinking about this the other day.

  Anyway....most folks here were against the release. But there seems to be other forces at work i.e. Brussels etc.

  But life is not going to be any slam dunk for these 2. They will live in fear of anyone uncovering their identities. Their recent pictures have been leaked already and they have to be in constant contact with their parole officers. They also have to box clever when people inquire what they have been upto these last 6 years or so. Some people , i.e. local parole officers and clerical workers will know their identity etc. It is a matter of time before the info gets on the net or something.

  They might have been better off in prison.

  ISP
• 

  Seeker

  What happened was horrible and a tragedy, no mistake. Since this topic is one of justice, however, let us ask this question: What would serve as justice for the Bulger boy's death? Would killing the killers be 'just'? If so, how so? How would it help the Bulger family? It certainly won't bring Jamie back, or make it up to the family. I'd rather not talk about 'an eye for an eye' since that is an ancient barbaric custom, IMO. This is the 21st century; let's move on with humanity.

  If I had a loved one killed, I would not choose to have someone else killed as recompense. That would not help me in any way, but it would bring pain to another family in the process.

  There is no justice for the death of a loved one. It is a completely unjust act, and nothing can make it up.
• 

  Francois

  Jan, I must say that in my opinion your response regarding the two boys that murdered that child is little more than standard psychobabble, is utterly offensive, and worth what we paid for it. I don't think you have the slightest idea what you're talking about - not in terms of anything approaching a firm grip on the obvious. That's SOME life sentence you've described for those two. You simply can't be serious.

  It is just as legitimate for me to posit that during their incarceration these mini sub-humans attended a school for the higher learning of criminal behavior; that they became even more hardened in themselves; and that they are fully prepared for a life of continuing crime.

  These boy's personalities were formed and fixed, if we can believe the real experts, by the time they were three years old. And given the recidivism rate in any country you'd care to name, I fully expect that we'll be presented in future with additional grim stories about the doings of these evil monsters - very similar it seems to me to the (who was it? Cray?) brothers in the UK.

  Society has an absolute right to protect itself. In my opinion those two should never be free to mix in company with civilized society, even such as it is.

  And that's MY free opinion.

  Francois

  My $0.02
• 

  Seeker

  These boy's personalities were formed and fixed, if we can believe the real experts, by the time they were three years old.

  As were all of our personalities formed and fixed by age three. But not irrevocably. Many people have received the training and help needed to change damaging personality traits they held. We are not slaves of the person we were at age three (or 13 or 23).

  As for these boys, I don't believe any of us are in the least bit qualified to say what they have or have not accomplished in their personalities over the last 8 years. Nor can any of us predict what they will do with their lives. For that, we have to trust the experts whose job it was to make that determination.

  But if is a fallacy to think they are incapable of being productive members of society. They may not turn out to be, but the possibility does exist, no matter what we may think of them or their crime.