James Bulger- 2 year old boy totured and killed

Personally, I believe that his identity should not be released. If anything, I believe that they should have said the recent crimes he committed under his new name, rather then connecting the two crimes together - but not everything is perfect.

Why? Well, clearly they were two mentally ill 10 year olds when they committed the crimes. I'm not excusing the crime, obviously, but with the charge and the age they were, there was only a small chance they wouldn't become institutionalised. If you think about the crime that he recently committed, it is a simple crime - if you wanted to go to prison for a long time, it is a very easy crime to commit without guilt. It's clearly a bad crime, but in comparison to murder, rape, robbery, it's relatively low effort and low guilt.

Also, if his identity was released, the effects would be awful. I'm aware many people believe that he would deserve everything which would come to him, but he is a still a human. If someone were to attack him, it would just result in their prison sentence, and NHS money wasted. If he died, that is another murderer on a street, and 1,000 more people justifying murder - murder should never be justified. No good would come out of his identity being revealed, but no good came out of his identity being revealed after the murder either.

The crime, overall, was horrific. I live in the Bootle area, where it occurred, and I may not have been alive, but I know the effects. I've been to the shopping centre that James was abducted from, and my cousin was the same age at the time, and was in the shopping centre on the same day. It is terrifying to think that it could have been my cousin, but it could have been. Regardless, I cannot take the murderers for pure evil, and I believe people have failed them in rehabilitation and protection. As humans, they deserve this protection.

I also think the outcry for this 'justice' is stupid. We are not the professionals in this; we do not know what is best in these circumstances. The release of his name is unnecessary. I also believe that if there were an inquiry into the case, it would not go in the favour of the public. Having watched many documentaries and read lots about it, it seems to me that those in charge of the case believe that it was harsh the other way.

Regardless of my opinion anyway, obviously the crime was wrong and they should have served a prison sentence. I am also not a professional, so I've probably got facts wrong and don't know everything.

Do you guys think the identity of Jon Venebals should be released?
Should he stay as anonymous person who killed a innocent 2 year old boy?
What are your thoughts in general over this horrific crime that had happened and to this day will still affect a lot of people?
^tortured

well for where this came from....

No, his identity should not be released for numerous reasons. Firstly, that is not how the justice system works in Britain. If a convict has been successfully rehabilitated and have served their sentence, then they are allowed to have a chance at a fresh start. Releasing his identity won't bring back Jamie Bulger. The parents may have already come to terms with accepting his death and releasing the killer's identity would just re-open old wounds.

He hasn’t rehabilitated though has he?

We don't know if the rehabilitation has worked or not seeing as we do not know his identity.

What has that got to do with what I said?

Well you said that the rehabilitation didn't work and I said that we can't know that for sure because the public does not know much about Jon Venables' recent criminal activity or his life after leaving prison.

Well you said that the rehabilitation didn't work and I said that we can't know that for sure because the public does not know much about Jon Venables' recent criminal activity or his life after leaving prison.

As much I want to know who he is, this would not be a good idea.

We know he’s been caught twice with indecent images of children on his computer though. People who have been rehabilitated do not have over 1000 of these images, 400 deemed serious.

So what happened to the other guy? (Just outta interest)

So what happened to the other guy? (Just outta interest)

Even if the rehabilitation has failed, I still fail to see how releasing his identity would help. Think of it from the parents' point of view. When you have finally gotten over the death of your son, the killer of your son's identity is released and the case is dragged back into the news when you have finally managed to move on. It isn't nice for the parents.

As far as anyone knows, not much. He's never made the headlines so I guess he's genuinely reformed if he's not been back to prison, or had anything negative surface about him.

I disagree that people have failed them in rehab. Rehab has worked in the case of Robert Thompson. He hasn’t been in trouble since, Venebles has numerous times.

If he had been back in prison, I would imagine we would know about it.