I had a small two year old son called James at the same time that two year old James Bulger was abucted and later found cut in half by a train on a railway track somewhere on Merseyside.
We found it hard to imagine what had got into the two boys aged ten who had done this awful thing. The headlines were all about James and we were so thankful our child was safe in his bed.
Naturally we were upset, even angry. However the first moment that I became concerned about how this would turn out was the television coverage of adults in Liverpool stoning the police van that carried the two ten old children accused of the crime.
Those who stoned that van were louts. At the very moment that those two boys should have received love they were the subject of hate.
I was astonished that the two were put on trial and found guilty in an adult court. This seemed to be a response to the louts who stoned the van rather than an acknowledgment of the rule of law.
These children were well below the age of criminal responsibility and should never have been put on trial. It is not the job of the criminal justice system to compromise with a lynch mob.
Broken children from a broken home means broken adults. Are we now surprised that one of the children has now allegedly re-offended as an adult?
For the mass media this is a wonderful "story", as a Dad I just feel sick that this lad was given a life sentence when hardly into puberty.
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5 comments:
I very much agree with you David. We had a baby James at that time who I think even shared James Bulger's second name.
We were horrified at the killing of James Bulger. It nauseated us. Yet surely these lads need help re their lives. Saddly their upbringing was awful and probably their best days were in their teens as now they live with fear of identification.
Last night George Galloway shared on Talk Sport that he has had many messages saying the two buys should be hanged. And that is a danger of current hysteria that we become such a debased society that we think we are awfully nice if we don't hang 10 year olds!
The media coverage of the past week is a disgrace. An appetite for revenge is being fed. Still it will make money for the .... who own or newspapers. And as a country we just get nastier and only an idiot believes that this will save a solitary child's life!
There is an argument that they were old enough to know what they did was wrong; old enough to kill and therefore old enough to die. Unbelievable, but true!
If you want to see the dark heart of sin, read the comments on the online newspaper articles. It is one of the most depressing activities you can do.
The truth is that there were up to eighty adults who saw the tearful and scared child being dragged to his doom. No-one intervened or asked enough questions. All these children could have been saved from tragedy by a persistent challenge.
Now they must pay for the failings of society. Venables and Thompson are scapegoats for our inability to realise the sinfulness of sin.
Reason and law are now bleeding-heart do-goodery (in this case) and revenge is pragmatic justice. This kind of value reversal is extremely dangerous for any society. It is close to blaspheming the Holy Spirit. It is calling good, evil and evil, good.
We are broken beyond repair and only Christ can save us.
I agree with some of the comments - but has anyone mentioned James' family - they are trying to live out their lives - they will never forget James - but this is dragging everything to the fore once again.
Yes spare sympathy for these lads but think about James' Mom and Dad and the wider family - they too need our sympathy and prayers.
Agree that the family of James Bulger need our prayers at this time. They have suffered greatly and the attention of media coverage can only be harmful to them. Sadly there is not a lot one can do for them practically other than that help which I very much hope they're getting. They have a terrible life sentence from which they have no remission. This is a story in which there are only losers and they have lost a much loved son.
This was a truly shocking case and words can't adequately describe the enormity of what happened. The two boys who killed did come from difficult and deprived backgrounds - but that doesn't even come close to explaining what is beyond comprehension. The crime was so evil that it's little wonder people reacted the way they did - a compassionate response was necessary at that time to combat the revulsion but how do you reach through the rage towards that compassion. C S Lewis once said "everyone thinks forgiveness is a wonderful idea, until he has something to forgive". I wish I could be softer in my approach to this.
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