Thompson and Venables

[Lynn_M]

Anyone know of their whereabouts?

[NJOK]

They present I'm A Celebrity and Saturday Night Takeaway on ITV1 which I think is disgusting.

[NJOK]

Seriously though, the knuckle-dragging vigilantes in this country terrify me.

Yes, it must be a life of absolute luxury living in constant fear of revenge killings.

People in this country have bizarre views sometimes. They think of Maxine Carr of the incarnation of pure evil (even though she didn't touch Holly and Jessica and didn't even know about their murders until it was too late) and yet they don't even know the names of the boys who stabbed Damilola Taylor to death.

I wonder why that is?

[Lynn_M]

Unfortunately, we're a society that creates 'knuckle-dragging vigilantes'. It isn't what people want, giving freedom to people who commit the most vile of crimes; even if they did it as children.

Back in 1979, Brenda Spencer shot and killed two adults, wounded another and at the same time shot and wounded nine junior school children at a school shooting in San-Deago. She was 16 at the time.

The courtrooms of California (unlike ours) take a pretty dim veiw of that sort of thing. Brenda Spencer is still inside, even after all those years.

California got it right, we got it wrong.

I used to think that Ian Huntly would never get released. However, after reading those postings over, I am not so sure.

[NJOK]

Isn't it what society wants, Lynn? It always makes me laugh when people try to distance themselves from the judicial process. We're all accountable. That's democracy. If you don't agree with something, stand for Parliament. If enough people agree with you, you'll get elected and if enough MPs agree with you, you can change legislation to whatever you like. So if 'the people' don't like these laws, why is there no movement to change them?

I'll tell you why. I don't think the British public does want to follow the US lead of a) locking people up and throwing away the key or b) executing them.

Maybe they look at the purpose of punishment slightly differently to you. It's not all about Old Testament retribution. And it's not just a way of scaring people away from committing these crimes. It's about changing people. And the belief that people can be reformed. That's what's great about civilised society. We try to transform 'evil' people without morals and compassion into people who can play a positive role in society. It doesn't always work, but it's worth aiming for.

[admarlow]

so how long does it take to cure a peodofile (sp)

[jno]

there's also a significant difference between the ages of 10 and 16, as most people will be able to recall from their own lives.

[Booldawg]

to be fair I'd be more concerned at the possibility of whether or not they have the metal make-up to commit a similiar offence. If a so-called 'lynch mob' gets to them before this happens then thats the best result surely?

[bernardo]

No it isn't, because there would be two young men who have been murdered.

[Lynn_M]

Two scumbags that have been put down, more like.

[Englishbird]

NJOK - excellent! point about Damilola Taylor.

The SCUM that killed Stephen Lawrence are also walking free, no Vigilante killings there eh. And I'm not talking about colour, I'm talking about class and which stories sell more papers.

How anyone can say that two 10 year old boys cannot be rehabilitated just because it said so in 'The Sun' is beyond me.

I feel desperately for the families of any murdered child or person and I'm far from a liberal lefty, but I don't like these blanket, unreasoned opinions.

By all means have your opinion, but please make sure that it is your own and that it is based in some fact.

[Lynn_M]

Rehabilatate criminals? It can't be done. What Thompson and Venables did was so henious the don't even deserve the chance of rehabilitation.