Being called John Venables must be awkward these days. Do a search on twitter, facebook and so on and you'll find a number of JVs come up, along with the usual miasma of 'must die/suffer/be tortued/is scum pages. The current situation with those pictures and the Attorney General's decision to 'make an example' of some/all/those we can find posters of said pics has led to some interesting responses.
When dealing with this kind of attitude I like to get some source material. Mrs Bulger, now Mrs Fergus, is on record as stating she doesn't want vigilante justice to be visited on John Venables, but if someone were to kill him then, that would be one of those things. And who can blame her. Given she was put through the mill once by the murder of her son and then by a callous press/public who accused her of neglecting young Jamie while she was concentrating on shoplifting, a claim later discredited but still out there, adding to the fog. She has cheerfully admitted to wanting to know where they are, just so she knows, not wanting to act upon the knowledge. I wonder about that.
As a parent, if anyone had done that to my child I'd be inconsolable and hell bent on the revenge. I'd be less happy if half the country rose up on my behalf and removed that pleasure from me. I can understand why people vent, ;less so on public forums where the mob mentality gives rise to a sense of collective retribution, such is the genesis of the lynch mob.
Much has been said about the trial and sentencing of these two children, as that is who committed the crime; 2 ten year old boys from social deprivation, poor education and 'broken homes'. Typical fodder for the do-gooder. Were they let out too soon? Did the European court get it wrong? Opinions abound and all of them at odds. But this case highlights, yet again, that we don't know how to run a judicial system to take perpetrators of crimes and deal with them in an appropriate way. We still equivocate as to whether we punish or rehabilitate, and end up doing neither.
Those who get caught up in the sweep of injunctions preventing the publication of pictures of the adult pair may have to swallow their punishment, delivered from the same system that educated Thompson and Venables to A level standard and provides them with comfort and anonymity. (It is my opinion that there are far too many laws to be broken, hence the level of perceived criminality, but that's another story). As we progress along the path of civilisation it becomes ever clearer that the establishment and the judiciary create a legal framework that is a mystery to the 'General Public' and appears to become more farcical by the minute. without the inclusion of public opinion and the increased social education of said Gen Pub then this situation will get worse, and the Gen Pub will feel increasingly isolated from the law and more liable to break it out of sheer exasperation.
We've already had one paedophile killed in gaol this year, and while few tears were spilled over his demise I fear for a society where convicted criminals get to mete out what they believe to be justice. Likewise I don't want to live in a country where an angry mob can be allowed to get away with circumventing justice to dole out their own twisted and violent retribution.
There's nothing wrong with wanting justice, but everything wrong in descending to the lowest level of human feelings to inflict harm on another human being. In the land of an eye for an aye, all are blind. (I wonder what Bill would have thought?) William Melvin "Bill" Hicks (December 16, 1961 – February 26, 1994) R.I.P.
