I was born one year after the murder occurred. I also happen to be American. Naturally, I never had any reason to hear of the murder. The truth is that I stumbled across the story completely by mistake in December. While browsing some IMDB forums, I kept seeing James's name pop up. I decided to Google it, and was horrified at what I read. I had to stop midway through because I thought that I'd vomit. I forced myself to continue, and eventually found the trutv link. I then forced myself to read the whole thing. I was in a state of depression for two weeks. I couldn't go five minutes without thinking about Baby James. Even now, I still frequently thought about James.
I remember researching this in my first year of media studies (the movie Childs Play 3 was blamed for warping Veneble's mind for a little while because his father who he wasn't even living with had rented it at some point in time). I guess here's my take on it now...
These murders were just kids with a piss-poor understanding of the world, not Damien from The Omen. What happened was horrible but calling them monsters and hoping they get beaten up in prison's hardly going to get us anywhere closer to understanding it all.
Honestly I'm far more affected by the front page photos of one of the(now grown up) now grown up killers with his girlfriend with lurid headlines along the lines of 'How DARE he find happiness in his tortured, wretched life when Jamie Bulger is DEAD!". Nice work, tabloids you've
A) Exposed a man who's identity's been changed for his protection
B) Incited hatred towards a man for something he did AS A CHILD
C) Dragged an innocent woman into the whole sorry mess while you were at it
Honestly, this makes me feel more sick than the murders themselves. Kids torment each other all the time, stupid fucked up things happen as a result of it all the time, it's tragic but it's humanity. But whatever FULLY AWARE ADULT decided to publish that article, that's the true scum of society right there.
Here's an example of the kind of thing I'm talking about I found with some quick googling: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1255608/Yet-250-000-new-identity-Jamie-Bulger-murderer.html
It's like they want to start a bloodhunt for some new material. Cunts.
It's interesting that you mentioned Child's Play. From what I remember reading, the judge ruled that there was no link between the movie and the murder.
Are you sure about that part about one of the killer's pictures appearing in the paper? As far as I'm aware from any research I've done, no one knows who either of them are. Also, wouldn't the newspapers be breaching legal contracts by exposing his identity. Thirdly, I think I would have seen the picture by now. Do you have a source where I can see the picture?
Also, I've read from many sources that Venables revealed his own identity in prison. He must have had trouble living with the guilt. Obviously, he's suffered from a lot of mental trauma. Nevertheless, can you really blame any prisoners who may have discovered his identity?
I agree the tabloid press is the root of all evil, that's why I don't read them.
But I don't think its fair to criticize those people who call these criminals monsters and what-not. It's a perfectly human reaction to a very inhuman crime.
What these boys did was something so unthinkably disgusting in almost every way imaginable. This wasn't just 'kids tormenting each other', and yeah they had a piss-poor understanding of the world, but for some people, myself included, that's not an excuse. They knew exactly what they were doing, and crucially, they knew that it was wrong.
I think it's perfectly normal for we law-abiding citizens to react in disgust at the memory of such crimes... Especially when they find out that Venables barely set foot out of prison before starting on the child porn ... that was the final insult that changed the minds of many people who had previously been willing to blame society, or Chuckie.
I agree.
I don't know that the boys should be killed, as many people have suggested. However, they're sentence was waaaay too short. Furthermore, neither of them spent any time in a "jail." They were placed in correctional centers, where they were taught how to be placed back into society. They were even escorted on a weekly basis to public places. Venables got his own TV and Nintendo. Apparently, he also had access to a computer. He even convinced the guards to let him stay up half an hour past the curfew on a nightly basis. I believe that when they left their individual centers, they should have been thrown into a real jail for a number of years.
I've watched several documentaries on YouTube about both the murder case. I remember seeing a great one narrated by the head investigator of the case. It had a good amount audio from the police interviews. These are the only copies I've found of any interviews. Does anyone know if there is any more audio available to the public? If possible, I'd really like to hear the recordings or read the transcripts.
I would be interested in talking about anything related to the murder case. Just speak your minds.
