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=The Murder of James Bulger= by Nate Wilcox-Pettit November 12, 2009

On February 12, 1993 in a shopping center in Liverpool, England, a two year old boy named James Bulger was kidnapped by two ten year old boys, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables. These two boys lured him outside a mall where his mother was shopping, telling adults who questioned them that the two year old was their younger brother. Once outside, they took him for a two mile walk over the course of which they abused him mercilessly, including by rubbing paint in his eyes and beating him with bricks and an iron bar. The horrible crime ended at the nearby railroad tacks, where James Bulger died of the multiple blows he was dealt and Thompson and Venables left the two year old's body to be run over by a train in an attempt to conceal their actions.

Thompson and Venables were taken into custody soon after the body was found and both eventually confessed to being involved in the murder. They were the youngest people in England and Wales to be charged with murder in the 20th century. Before confessing, they both repeatedly blamed the other child of being the killer, of hurting James Bulger first, or of convincing themselves of hurting Bulger. During the interviews that led to their confessions, Jon was consistently in hysterics, while Robert was mostly calm. Jon blamed Robert for everything, but confessed to more than Robert did overall. Robert showed little or no remorse, and was later suspected of being an undiagnosed psychopath by psychiatric experts and the Bulger family's lawyers.

Even though the boys were still young children, the general public was outraged at their actions and there was a great debate over increasing their minimum sentence to ten or even fifteen years. There was a lot of hatred towards the two boys once it was decided that the boys understood the difference between right and wrong and could therefore be guilty. To this day many people are still afraid of them and see what they did as unforgivable even at their young age.

Thompson and Venables were found guilty of the murder, as was expected. The final decision was that the two killers would be detained "at Her Majesty's Pleasure" which basically is just a sentence without a definite end. The minimun sentence was set at eight years. The Judge at the hearings said "The killing of James Bulger was an act of unparalleled evil and barbarity...You will be detained for very, very many years, until the Home Secretary is satisfied that you have matured and are fully rehabilitated and until you are no longer a danger." The boys, now grown, have been released under new, anonymous identities.

I think this ruling was just. I think, because they were only young children at the time of the murder, eight years was a good amount of time to let them try to mature, and I trust the court's judgement that they were no longer threats to society after this sentence. I think the two of them must have felt huge remorse for what they did as they served their punishment, and if this is so, it is important to have some mercy even for the perpetrators of such a terrible crime. I think if these boys had not been children, they would have certainly gotten a life sentence in prison without any kind of discussion, but because of their age the trial was thought of very differently. I would not change the court's ruling, I think it was fair and a good decision that provided great punishment for a great crime, but mercy for two children who could not have grasped the whole scope of the evil they were committing.

Sources:
Harris, P., & Bright, M. (2001). The Secret meetings that set james's killers free. //The Guardian//, Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2001/jun/24/bulger.paulharris

Mikkelson, B. (2008). Murder of jamie bulger.//Snopes.com//, Retrieved from http://www.snopes.com/politics/crime/bulger.asp

MurderUK.com,. (n.d.). Child killers- robert thompson and jon venables. //Murder in the UK//, Retrieved from http://www.murderuk.com/child_killers_thompson_venables.html

Scott, S.L. (n.d.). Death of james bulger. //Trutv.com//, Retrieved from http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/young/bulger/1.htm