I’m not going to comment on the proximity of the prison to the “crime scene” as I don’t know what the policy is on that front, and I must confess I’ve never thought about the implications for the families of victims for a criminal to be nearby.The Bulger killers were sent to Red Bank Detention Centre in Newton-Le-Willows. It's a bit of a backwater actually between St Helens, where I live, and Warrington.
Whilst it's certainly no holiday resort it isn't like a normal youth offenders institute. Only the most despicable young offenders go there and as such they largely get left alone. By contrast a youth offenders institute is incredibly violent. I have worked with people who have been through the legal system and they assure me that they would rather go to adult prison than "youthie".
By putting them in Red Bank they were kept from the "trophy hunters" that would most likely have gone after them in mainstream prison. On top of that it is a great insult to the family to detain them less than 30 minutes from where the incident occured.
We are all capable of such terrible acts. There's no such thing as someone being evil, as much as we all might describe them that way. Thompson and Venables had free will and they exercised that in the murder of Jamie Bulger. They wanted to kill a child, they'd thought about it for some time and they eventually executed their ambition.You keep saying he’s not rehabilitated due to failures. Do you not think then that some people are so badly damaged that they are beyond rehabilitation?
It's not a soft prison. It's no holiday camp but it did insulate them from the consequences of their actions and that, I personally believe, could be part of the reason that Venables continues to reoffend.I’m not going to comment on the proximity of the prison to the “crime scene” as I don’t know what the policy is on that front, and I must confess I’ve never thought about the implications for the families of victims for a criminal to be nearby.
As to the issue of it being a “soft” prison or whatever you want to call it, I think this belies issies with our prison system. We shouldn’t be looking to send them to horrible, violent places. That doesn’t achieve anything, and will definitely hinder and possibility of rehabilitation.
As to your other post about wearing orange vests on site - a friend of mine did a civil engineering placement in Toxteth while at uni and they didn’t wear hi vis because it increased their risk of getting shot.
Lol. I'm having murder with my autocorrect on my phone. It was Croxteth that I had my drill stolen.Damnit, another double post.
Yes, and I’m saying that’s wrong. The system is failing if he’s released and reoffends. There is a failure or multiple failures among the people responsible for rehabilitating him, deciding whether to release him, and monitoring him once he has been released.
None of which undermines the wider notion of rehabilitation.
Except it’s not, because it can and does work, here and in other countries. You have an exception here, but without numbers to hand I’d bet it works more often than not.The problem is though that he's clearly been deemed as rehabilitated when he's been released. And he's clearly not. Either we need indeterminate sentence lengths until it's 100% certain someone has been rehabilitated but even then how can you be certain? Mistakes will happen and those mistakes do lead to people being hurt or even killed. The notion of rehabilitation is essentially an idealistic pipe dream.
Except it’s not, because it can and does work, here and in other countries. You have an exception here, but without numbers to hand I’d bet it works more often than not.
If you don’t believe in rehabilitation then surely the only logical conclusion is that you lock people up forever or you kill them at the first offence.
We are all capable of such terrible acts. There's no such thing as someone being evil, . .
The point is that he's a convicted murderer out on licence, now spending his days shooting up. This is not ok and should be a violation of the terms of his release.
I'll try and look for a link but for first time prisoners I think it's the majority who serve up to 3 years reoffend. Beyond 3 years that begins to drop off and basically the longer they serve the less chance that they'll reoffend.
Solution? Longer sentences.
Not the original source but this supports it
http://open.justice.gov.uk/reoffending/prisons/
The World Justice Project defines the rule of law system as one in which the following four universal principles are upheld:
- The government and its officials and agents are accountable under the law.
- The laws are clear, publicized, stable and fair, and protect fundamental rights, including the security of persons and property.
- The process by which the laws are enacted, administered, and enforced is accessible, efficient, and fair.
- Justice is delivered by competent, ethical, and independent representatives and neutrals who are of sufficient number, have adequate resources, and reflect the makeup of the communities they serve.
The World Justice Project Rule of Law Index is an quantitative assessment tool designed to offer a detailed and comprehensive picture of the extent to which countries adhere to the rule of law in practice. The Index provides data on eight dimensions of the rule of law: limited government powers; absence of corruption; order and security; fundamental rights; open government; regulatory enforcement; civil justice; and criminal justice. These factors are further disaggregated into forty-four indicators. Together, they provide a comprehensive picture of rule of law compliance.[5] The index is typically published annually.[6]
The Index rankings and scores are built from over 400 variables drawn from two new data sources: (i) a general population poll (GPP), designed by the WJP and conducted by leading local polling companies using a probability sample of 1,000 respondents in the three largest cities of each country; and (ii) a qualified respondents’ questionnaire (QRQ) completed by in-country experts in civil and commercial law, criminal law, labor law, and public health. To date, over 97,000 people and 2,500 experts have been interviewed in 99 countries and jurisdictions.[7]Adherence to the rule of law is assessed using 47 indicators organized around eight themes: constraints on government powers, absence of corruption, open government, fundamental rights, order and security, regulatory enforcement, civil justice, and criminal justice. In addition to country scores and rankings, the Index also includes key global findings as well as an analysis of regional strengths, rule of law challenges, best and worst performers, and trends to watch.
Except it’s not, because it can and does work, here and in other countries. You have an exception here, but without numbers to hand I’d bet it works more often than not.
If you don’t believe in rehabilitation then surely the only logical conclusion is that you lock people up forever or you kill them at the first offence.
This is the first time I've heard this.
How could you possibly know this? His identity is a secret.
No that wasn't the point I was addressing, you seemingly want to arrest him based on a drugs test. Point is you'll probably need to catch him in possession of the drugs.
It can and does work sometimes.
Releasing somebody under license on the probability that they might be rehabilitated and will not re-offend involves a risk.
The risk is that if you have got it wrong, somebody else is going to end up a victim.
If somebody is a serial shoplifter the consequences of getting it wrong are not very high (Even so "More often than not" does not come anywhere close enough to acceptable risk to me, even for something like shoplifting)
If the consequences of getting it wrong is a toddler being kidnapped and tortured to death then I don't really think any level of risk is acceptable.
Those who think that it is should consider what level of risk you do consider "acceptable" for the release of people like Thompson and Vennables and how you would justify your argument for "Acceptable Risk" to Denise Bulger Mk2 should a re-offense occur and we have another murdererd baby to account for.
We punish people whose Dogs harm other people, why not people whose children go on to do so??
(Semi-serious question actually)
The Bulger killers were sent to Red Bank Detention Centre in Newton-Le-Willows. It's a bit of a backwater actually between St Helens, where I live, and Warrington.
As far as I am aware they both went to Red Bank. Perhaps Thompson was moved on. If someone can say for certain then that'd be appreciated.Correct me if I'm wrong (I'm getting this from Wikipedia) - but from what I've read it was just Venables that ended up in Red Bank in Newton Le Willows. Thompson was sent to Barton Moss Secure Care Centre.