I truly do despair.

[chaletian]

So, apparently, children's commissioner Maggie Atkinson suggested in a newspaper interview discussing the age of criminal responsibility in children that Venables and Thompson shouldn't have been tried in an adult court. Which makes sense, what with the part where they were, y'know, ten years old.

James Bulger's mother's response: "This woman owes James and me an apology. Then she should resign or be sacked. To say that his killers should not have been tried in an adult court is stupid." (Per this article.)

I'm sorry, what? What's that? What fucking right does this woman, who undeniably suffered a tragedy, have to call for the resignation of someone whose remit is to see to young people's rights? Or, more to the point, since we all have the right to say whatever we like on those lines, what right does she think she has to be taken seriously? Insofar as I have seen reports, there is nothing outrageous about Atkinson's remarks. There is nothing morally inflammatory about them. The fact that this woman's son was killed does not alone qualify her to pass judgement on on criminal law or jurisdiction or, it seems, pretty much anything else the press are only too willing to quote her on.

Comments

[ungratefulwench.livejournal.com]

I've been trying to skip over anything even mildly related to this case because it's driving me batshit insane. It's driving me crazy that society completely loses any sense of fairness or perspective when a child has been killed (and I'm not trying to undervalue the impact a child's death has). It's driving me crazy that the tabloids are stirring up so much ignorance and rage on the basis that WE NEED TO KNOW! It's driving me crazy that Jamie Bulger's mother keeps making statements to the press and that the press keep reporting them like she is the one true messiah. It's driving me crazy that, actually, most of us understand very little about the many things involved in this particular situation but still feel like we KNOW WHAT IS RIGHT (lynching and the reintroduction of the death penalty, primarily).

Yeah.

[balooky.livejournal.com]

I think she's got a lot of self-hatred going on to be honest.

[mrsrev.livejournal.com]

Thank you for putting my incoherent splutterings into real words!

[elvishly.livejournal.com]

Amen!

P.S. I love your icon.

[carolynp.livejournal.com]

Glad I'm not the old one who has wanted to shout at the TV over this!

[dozydormouse.livejournal.com]

She is a very very stupid woman whose only claim to fame God forgive me is having a murdered son. DO you think if he hadn't died anyone would listen to a not very intelligent woman who has never achieved anything.

Well never achieved anything except to get Venables' ase thrown out of court because he could not have a fair trial because she would not shut up.

I am sorry that he rson died, sorry that teh potential he may have had was wasted but that does not give her the right to make silly pronouncements or pass judgement and I think 10 is too young for criminal responsibility and they should not have been tried as adults.

[r-scribbles.livejournal.com]

Oh God, I'm so glad I'm not the only one. I'm starting to find her really quite annoying but I feel like saying so would open me up for all sorts of aggro. I don't know how I'd react if I'd suffered what she had - I may well go completely mad - and she has the right to be as bitter and angry as she needs to be - but why does the whole nation have to lose all sense of perspective over it? Someone's doing their job - she decides she's offended by someone doing their job - and then demands that person be sacked - and is taken seriously?!?

It's only because the nation's so ghoulishly obsessed with the macabre story that she's in the public eye - if we left it alone instead of making a celebrity of her and feeding her rage maybe she might be able to find a little more peace.

And if I see one person feeling they have to show how wrong they think violence towards children is by sharing their detailed, grisly fantasies about the violence they'd have inflicted on the 10 year olds who did it, given the chance, I'm going to flip.