Sorry, should read - is IN prison.

I just wish all these armchair vigilantes would get as outraged over car crime, petty insurance fraud, benefits cheats, shoplifting, litter-throwing, graffiti, and using mobile phones whilst driving.  There's only a handful of people like Venables and Thompson whereas there are loads and loads and loads of scumbags who do those things above and affect everyone as a result.  A bit more outrage there might put the scumbags off.

Gawd..........You really don't like me daniel do you !

marcus, I can`t speak for Daniel but I think he was talking about the news links, not you..that wouldn`t make sense

Oh phew, I thought I had been rumbled.

I'm away to paint a sign so I can tell where I dropped the mobile phone I pinched from the curry's I was working at under my second name..I might just drive therein my morris minor with the shredded tyres whilst nattering to my useless txt buddy. Just so I can put a claim in for it then collect it at a later date !

Well I wish we got as outraged with corporate tax evasion as we do over benefit fraud for starters.
I do get your point but really, nothing on that list compares with what happened to Jamie Bulger - yes those sorts of cases are thankfully rare but even one case is one too many

.... and neither does the Jamie Bulger business compare with a load of other stuff going on in the world

Again, a fair point Joe. I don't really know what to say here except that I still think people have a right to be concerned and upset over Jon Venables, it doesn't mean that they don't care about other stuff going on in the world.

I can't really say anymore. I'm not clever enough to put my thoughts into words without causing offense. I was as upset as the next person when this situation evolved back in the Tory Broken Britain of 1993. But until we find out what actually happened recently, instead of reacting to press speculation and subsequently slaughtering all men in their late twenties.......... etc.

They're not meant to compare as individual things.  However, if the JB outrage counted for (say) 100,000 and each one of those destructive activities counted for just 1 then the damage done to society and our sum total of happiness would still probably be greater by a factor of 1000 or more.  I reckon that those little destructive activities undermine our daily lives, increase our tolerance to petty crime, and encourage people to treat other people with disrespect.  I think I'd be happier if the JB killers got their 8 years in prison and the courts threw the book at people who do petty crime.  Afterall, the chances of coming across a JB killer is tiny.  The chances of coming across a twat driving 3/4 of a ton of metal along suburban roads whilst chatting on a phone is (say) 5 a day, every day, and the risk of a collision, or worse, being maimed or killed by one is unacceptably high.

I think it's more like the jb thing being nearer the million, couple that with violent assaults being say 1000 and anything to do with cruelty to children being inbetween. Then I think that these more serious crimes of child abuse and violent disirder far outways the petty crime of driving whilst talking on a phone or diddling a couple of weeks work while on the dole because theres hungry mouths to feed ! And lets face it, adding 30 quid onto the price of a stolen laptop is hardly the crime of the century, nor does it demorolise a complete nation, however many times it's done the way the bulger case has.

Sorry, but thats ridiculous.

What about the issue of the punishment being a detterent, which is what the fines and penalty points are for people talking on their phones while driving 1


Do you think a lonely human being who lusts after kids is going to be deterred by a measly 8 yrs for murder ?

People can't leave anything valuable around now, even in a locked car.  If you lose a wallet then you're lucky to get it back intact.  We pay about £30 extra each on car insurance to cover those who can't be arsed with it.  Etc.  We've come to just accept it. If people are thrilling themselves with the thought of tracking down one of the JB killers and beating them senseless then it'd be better to (say) drag out the next person they see on a mobile phone whilst behind the wheel and beating them senseless instead.

Firstly, they're much much much more likely to find one.  Secondly, it's probably very satisfying to thump them repeatedly whilst shouting "THAT'S for endangering the lives of my kids on the street EVERY DAY" and "THAT's for nearly running down someone's pet because you're not paying attention to the road" and "THAT'S for driving too close and scaring me by having to brake very sharply because you haven't noticed I've slowed down" and "THAT'S for driving around a busy roundabout with one hand and a knee because you're too selfish to put the phone down and drive safely".  I bet they wouldn't do it again.

I don't think 50 years would deter that sort of person.  Hanging didn't stop murder completely when it was in force.  It probably didn't have a great deal of effect when you take into account the differences in population numbers.

Ah detterents..lol.


I can happily leave stuff outside my house..no fear of getting anything pinched..maybe you should move and stop moaning about trivial little crimes and put your energy into stopping wierdos molesting kids instead....Goodnight, you havn't have got on my nerves with those statements.

Almost all of the country suffers from crimes like that.  It's endemic.  That's the problem.

Those 10 year olds almost certainly weren't fully aware of the consequences of their actions.  How could they be, really.  Kids don't have the same understanding of time as adults.  Afterall, the 8 years they got eventually would have been their entire life's memories at the point of their crime.  I very much doubt the deterrence of justice would have had any effect whatsoever.

By threatening the life of Mr Calvert, for example? 

Or pediatricians?

I`m astonished at that statement. I`ll say no more.

Okay.  Say no more.  I know you're astonished now.  And that you're going to say no more.  Thanks.

cos people are fecking stupid?

V V sensible words spoken by the Bliz imo

Me too, they were called Roman Catholic Priests and Nuns and  'good church going catholics' many of whom were sexually, physically and emotionally abusing children!

Arrogance personified

The "Scum" newspaper won't be happy until someone is dead ,whether it's Venables or someone who  "looks a bit like him" etc,They are whipping up the mob.

In your case maybe ........in mine NO. I went to a standard primary school not linked to any religion ............I went to Salvation Army Sunday School and I was never abused by friends and neighbours. I guess 'some' Roman Catholic Priests and nuns are culpable but not all. Incidentally I'm not Roman Catholic ..............teaching kids by good example isn't always as you think ...............................I'm sure I'm not alone in relating my childhood experiences and how I've bought my own kids up.

I think you jumped to conclusions there TBH.

Actually your post has really riled me ..............why does teaching and instilling 'good things'  into kids have to be drawn into that? Are you saying we shouldn't teach our kids good examples simply because some misguided/sick priests have gone about it in the wrong way in the past? What's wrong in teaching kids right from wrong?

GJ, I spoke to someone this w/e who actually believes that Venables and Thompson should have been hung aged 10 I'm deeply, deeply, shocked by the level of hatred levelled at them on here and elsewhere and the absolute belief that damaged children can never, ever be repaired/rehabilitated. Of course their crimes are almost unspeakable, everyone agrees about that, and it must be absolutely unbearable for Jamie Bulger's parents to know the horror that their poor child suffered. BUT I truly believe that they had no real idea at just how awful the thing was that they did, they had learning difficulties, abusive and neglectful upbringings, more than probably had watched v v violent videos including 'Chucky 3' which desensitised them etc.etc. They then had an unfair trial in an adult court and served the , (minimum,) sentence that they were given. A mistake may have been made in releasing them too early but please let's wait to see what Venable's alleged crime is. If it's accessing internet child abuse images then of course, that's a terrible thing, but it is also a crime of which many, many people who are guilty of are not pursued because the sheer number of them mean that police can only 'prioritise'  ring leaders/ those who work with children/ high profile figures/previously convicted offenders

You misunderstand me Soozy, I absolutely agree that we should teach children and young people right from wrong. I was simply saying that some of those who teach children 'right from wrong' can be the wrongdoers themselves

To quote you Suzy: "you're post has really riled me"............I'm sure that all of those who were abused by the 'do-gooders' 'clergy' and 'upstanding members of the public' will be really impressed by your empathy

I got a text tonight re Jon Venables and David Calvert.  I went online and shared this article with my texter.

http://blogs.news.sky.com/life...44-b8fc-5ec63dca9413

Well .................call me stupid but - whilst these things annoy me intensely I don't get outraged. I do however get outraged/angered/ and disturbed at the murder of a two year old at the hands of two ten year olds. How can you possibly compare these things? I think armchair vigilantes as you choose to call them have some right to be moved by something like this.

I haven't read this whole thread so sorry if my input is late has been discussed already.

Please don't get me wrong. I have every sympathy with those who were abused but I fail to see what relevance it had to what I was saying.................that's all. We can be taught 'good' things as I said in my previous post .............it really doesn't have to be linked with child abuse as you chose to do.

Yes but what if these 'arm chair vigilantes' get the wrong person?

But Soozy, surely that is part of the point under discussion here, that Thompson and Venables were 'taught' by example and probably by accessing their parent's violent video films that violence, neglect etc.was ok? Hence my point that some of those who 'teach' us so called right from wrong are teaching us violence and abuse by their own example. Just so I don't appear to be singling out the RC church here's a couple of Barnado's e.g's  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/nor..._ireland/2271439.stm
http://www.independent.co.uk/n...rnardos-1163964.html

Well yes .............perhaps I haven't read through the thread thouroughly enough (probably) I would never go along with 'vigilante' actions ...................I was simply saying - surely we are allowed to be horrified and appalled by some criminal acts rather than others. (I obviously hadn't read through the whole thread).

As they v v often do, remember, for example, the vigilantes who got confused between paediatrician and paedophile post Sarah Payne?
It flabbergasts me that there are folk on here who are so quick to call police, social workers etc. 'scum' and the like, yet believe it's ok for people to take the law into their own hands