Should the mob rule? (Young Offenders - What Should The Law Do With Them?)

Member Name: Red Devil

Product:	Young Offenders - What Should The Law Do With Them?
Date:	13/01/01 (39 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Children and adults must remain different in the eyes of the law...surely it is better to rehabilitate than punish?

Disadvantages: the effect on Bulgers parents - tragic but something that cannot be avoided.

Firstly I will state that I feel nothing but sympathy for the relatives of James Bulger. Their grief and anger at the murderers of their son is understandable and naturally they want the two boys who took their sons life to be locked up and never released. However, although it is tragic that these events happened, I believe there are a number of reasons why the killers of James Bulger should not be detained in prison through their adult lives.

Before I express why I believe Bulger's killers should be released back into society, I will try to explain the arguments for keeping them locked up. The main argument is that the two boys who murdered Bulger were old enough, at ten years old, to realise what they were doing and because of that they should never be released. This argument is also fuelled because the general public have been able to follow this story since it happened due to the mass media coverage. If the only reports in the media were that two boys aged ten killed a 2 year old and the murderers had been abused as children, then it is likely that there would be no public outcry at plans to release them. Because of the revelations concerning the brutality of the killing, the public now see Venables and Thompson as two evil children. Many people claim that the two boys should have been shot and it is understandable why the two will get completely new identities when they are released. However, although the murder cannot be condoned, even considering the violent upbringing the two killers had recieved, the point cannot be missed that Venables and Thompson were 10 year old CHILDREN at the time and not ADULTS. Therefore, although they knew what they did was wrong, they would not have been fully in control of their actions. If plans were made to release Hindley or Sutcliffe back into society then clearly this would be wrong as they were fully developed adults at the time and will never be truly rehabilitated. Venables and Thompson have spe
nt the most important developmental years of their life in an institution and if the psychologists believe they are rehabiltated, and surely they and not the public are in the best position to jude, then this must be accepted.

There are different reasons why I believe the killers of James Bulger should be released. Firstly, if they are not released it must surely mean children over the age of ten cannot be treated differently to any developed adult who has committed a crime. If this happened it would be disastrous for the legal system and to the welfare of children living in a harsh environment. Although Venables and Thompson knew what they were doing, surely it is better to try and understand why they did it and rehabilitate them rather than just lock them up and throw the key away, or worse still take the barbaric 'eye for an eye' theory of capital punishment (read the opinion by Scotgirl to find why this form of punishment should not be condemned on anybody). It cannot be forgotten that the killers where children and therefore must be treated as such under the law. If Jack Straw and the Home Office were to give in and let the public decide the fate of prisoners then we might as well let The Sun and the rest of the power crazed, money driven vultures of the media run the country. When they are released both boys will be given completely new identities so as to protect them from the public. Although an emotional case, many of the public, and without doubt the tabloid media, jump on an emotional bandwagon so that they can act like a mob. To push for these boys to be condemned to death themselves would be more barbaric than even the crimes they had comitted and in this century should not be allowed to happen.

Although people dont want the pair released, I feel it is neccessary in order to protect any remains of the legal system that still exist. If the mob rules and makes decisions purely on emotional grounds then there is no poin
t in having a form of government. Some will tell me if I had children and they were butchered then I would feel different...Of course I would! I would be emotionally involved and very hurt and angry at what happened. Id want the murderers to be tortured till they died. However, that wouldnt make it at all right and I shouldnt be given the chance to decide the fate of the culprits.

Anyway, it is a sensitive issue and personally I feel an important one which will have ramifications on the entire legal system and the role of the media in the governing of Britain today.

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