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James
Bulger Case: Two ten year old boys were convicted
in Britain of the 1993 murder of a two year old boy.
Thompson and Venables were found guilty of taking
James Bulger who was two, from a shopping center in
the north England town of Bootle to a railway line,
two miles away, where they killed him. They were identified
from a shopping center security video tapes.
Fitness
to stand Trial Issue: The two boys were eleven at
the time were tried as adults. One could question
whether the two children would have probably found
the rituals and formalities of the court incomprehensible
and intimidating given their immaturity and emotional
state, would they have been able to communicate with
their lawyers, even out of the court room
Media:
The two boys were placed in a raised dock, exposing
them even more to the public and media. The courts
had sentenced them to eight years in jail but because
of the publicity of the case they were given fifteen
years by the British Home Secretary, Michael Howard.
The decision of fifteen years was later squashed by
the House of Lords. The courts stated that this violated
the boy's rights because they were not allowed to
appeal to a judge to review their sentence.
Human Rights:
The violation of the boys' human rights could be a
concern as the European Court of Human Rights ruled
that the two boys were treated unfairly because they
were tried as adults. One of the possible reasons
they were treated as adults is because of the nature
of their crime it was so terrible that it was necessary
for the two boys to be treated as adults and sentenced
as adults. These two boys tricked a two year old to
come with them, and therefore was premeditated. By
planning the crime they were starting to think like
adults. The toddler's mother stated "The killers
have slick lawyers and always get kid glove treatment
by the British government who should not allow a European
court to dictate how we operate our legal system.
Even though they are evil, I have to accept the killers
will be released one day. But they should serve nothing
less than 15 years."
Criminal
Responsibility: English law fixes the age of criminal
responsibility at age ten, which is among the lowest
of the forty-one nations which are signatories of
the European Convention on Human Rights. "In
most cases children are tried in youth court. But
because on the horrific nature of the murder, it was
decided to hold the trial in an adult criminal court.
European
Court: In its decision, the European court said that
in a high-profile case such as this one, consideration
should be given to holding the trial in private, rather
than under the gaze of the media and the public, to
reduce the feelings of "intimidation and inhibition"
of the accused
The police
superintendent, Albert King, who was in charge of
investigating the murder stated that "The evidence
presented to the court showed that those two boys
on that day set out with one intention and that was
to kill, based on that, I think that eight years is
totally inadequate" If your are going to think
like an adult, plan like an adult and carry out those
plans like an adult, you should be tried as an adult.
References
European
Court: Trial of boys who killed toddler was unfair
(1999)
http://cnn.com/1999/WORLD/europe/12/16/eu.britain/
EU court
rules against Britain in prosecution of toddler's
slaying (December 16,1999).
http://cnn.com/1999/WORLD/europe/12/16/eu.britian.bulger.recut/
Toddler's
killers didn't get fair trial, court rules (December
17, 1999).
http://theglobeandmail.com/
Related
forensic issues:
- intent
to kill
- fitness
to stand trial, unable to communicate with council
- human
rights, tried as an adult
- age
of criminal responsibility
- European
Convention of Human rights
- power
of international law courts
This is
a significant case - because of their young age it
has questioned every issue of fitness, criminal responsibility,
sentencing and even the rights of international or
European law over that of their home country.
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Topic
D - Forensic Corrections > Section D.D.5.
Forensic Population> Unit.D.5.8. Young Offenders
Australia
Canada 
International
United Kingdom
United States
