Thatcher’s Grandchildren? pp 1-26 | Cite as
‘Kill a kid and get a house’
Abstract
On 24 November 1993, at the conclusion of the trial of Robert Thompson and Jon Venables for the murder of James Bulger, Mr Justice Morland sentenced them to be detained at Her Majesty’s pleasure, the child’s equivalent of a mandatory life sentence for murder. He stated that they would ‘be detained for very, very many years until the Home Secretary is satisfied that you have matured and are fully rehabilitated and are no longer a danger to others’. On 29 November he submitted to the Home Secretary, Michael Howard, his assessment of the ‘tariff’ (the proportion of the sentence that reflects retribution and deterrence, as opposed to the protective element of the sentence that reflects the risk posed by the offender to society). This he set at eight years, to be reviewed after five. He sent his recommendation to the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Taylor of Gosforth, who ordered that the boys should serve a minimum of ten years, with review at seven. Both agreed that the boys would not serve the latter part of their sentence in an adult prison, mainly to avoid revenge attacks. Under the system then in operation for mandatory adult life sentences, he then passed his recommendation to Howard for a final ruling.
Keywords
Probation Officer Press Freedom Secure Unit British Press Adult PrisonPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
- Franklin, B. and Petley, J. (1996). ‘Killing the Age of Innocence: Newspaper Reporting of the Death of James Bulger’. In J. Pilcher and S. Wagg (eds), Thatcher’s Children? Politics, Childhood and Society in the 1980s and 1990s. London: Falmer Press.Google Scholar
- Haydon, D. and Scraton, P. (2000). ‘“Condemn a little more, understand a little less”: The Political Context and Rights Implications of the Domestic and European Rulings in the Venables–Thompson Case’. Law and Society 27(3): 416–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- O’Hagan, A. (1993). ‘Diary’. London Review of Books 15(5), 11 March, p. 21.Google Scholar
- Rentoul, J. (2001). Tony Blair: Prime Minister. London: Little, Brown and Company.Google Scholar
- Sereny, G. (1995). The Case of Mary Bell: A Portrait of a Child Who Murdered. London: Pimlico.Google Scholar
- Smith, D. J. (1995). The Sleep of Reason: The James Bulger Case. London: Arrow Books.Google Scholar