I truly do despair.
Mar. 17th, 2010 06:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chaletianSo, 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.
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.
