Venables Unmasked?

[cromwell]

I have to admit I'd forgotten about his reoffending.
To repeat myself, the legal system ties itself in knots.

Firstly, decide how to punish him.
Then, decide to give him a new identity.
Release him.
He reoffends.
Should his identity continue to be kept secret? Should he be given a new, new identity?
His latest crime is not as serious as the first one he was given a new identity for, so...?

I'm going to say something that I know will upset lots of people, but I'm not doing it to deliberately cause bother.
If Venables and Thomson had both been gassed after killing Jamie Bulger, there would have been no need for agonising about new identities or reoffending.

It would have been barbaric to execute children?
So keeping them alive to commit sex crimes is more civilised?
Really, how civilised are we as a society? We protect the offender and then worry when he re-offends?

To repeat myself again, I know that the issue of children committing crime is a thorny one. I don't know that I would actually have supported the death penalty for these two, but given the severity of their crime, the bending over backwards of the state to protect them and then Venables' further offending, it's bound to cross your mind.

[Workingman]

As I understood things Venables and Thompson were released under licence meaning that any infringement of the licence conditions would see them back in jail for life - no appeal, no parole.

If that is the case then Venables does not need a new identity to 'protect' him from society as he will remain inside. Given what he did when he was released that should be the case anyway, there should be no discussions about him ever coming out again, ever.

Mind you, these people often find a 'Lord Longford' to argue their cases.

[miasmum]

Cromwell I am sorry, but I could never, ever agree with the gassing of children. They were given a sentence and they would have had a huge amount of money spent on their rehabilitation. Now as WM says he should be jailed for life and this time that should be it.

[Kaz]

I'm with Shell xx

[pederito1]

Hmmmm, I am not really interested whether or not he is unmasked but raising the issue again does bring up a few imponderables to my mind.
Like was he really born evil and how much of his adult behaviour is due to his incarceration. Anyway I believe his latest crime was only having porn on his computer and I wonder why that is such a crime when one can view it from American or Italian sites on satellite TV without any problem or even in certain books if one wants to. Does such viewing make anyone want to commit an assault anymore than watching a boxing match make a spectator want to punch someone. Then again the real imponderable I think is did the boys really abduct little James with the intention of taking him somewhere and killing him? I doubt it, more likely they played rough with him and killed him to stop him screaming
but we shall never know on that. Finally was their punishment correct? in some ways they seem to have been treated as having adult responsibility even though they were not much over the age of criminal responsibility, but then what should have been done with them????

[Kaz]

It was child porn Pederito, and therefore very much illegal wherever you source it from!

[cromwell]

Cromwell I am sorry, but I could never, ever agree with the gassing of children.

And I absolutely respect that view Shell.
Children committing crime has been on my mind a bit. There is a case of a local 12 year old who has been accused of sexually assaulting boys half his age. It is bad; can the 12 year old be rehabilitated, or will he re-offend? Will he ruin other children's lives in the future?
Thorny problem doesn't begin to describe it, really.

[miasmum]

It is hearbreaking, these children aren't born bad, it is what the learn from the lives they lead

[pederito1]

Yes, Kaz, but the point I was making is that I do not see why it should be illegal to look at something. I suppose though it could be argued that if such material is saleable, there is a market to produce it but definitely anyone who does make images of sexual exploitation of children should thoroughly deserve all he or ..er.. she gets.

[Kaz]

If people are allowed to look at such stuff (god ony knows what they get out of it, I certainly don't want to know!) then they are creating a market and people will exploit children to fill it.................

Makes me feel ill just talking about it TBH