http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/south_yorkshire/4337153.stm
I anticipate those young nubile folks are going to have a great time in the slammer.
It’s such an awful, awful situation. It’s awful that these kids committed murder and just as awful that their lives are going to be destroyed by prison.
unless we bring back capital punishment for particularly brutal murders…
Well, they had a choice. Their victim didn’t.
What I’m really struggling with is the last sentence in the article, the quote from the senior officer in the case: "“To get three young people to agree and participate in such an horrific attack is unique - this is not a reflection on society today.”
I don’t think it is unique (cases like Jamie Bulger spring to mind). And I’m not sure at all that it isn’t a reflection on society today.
I saw some gruesome stuff in my short time as a bobby on the beat in a big city. Maybe it’s the apparent complete lack of motive in this case which disturbs me, I don’t know.
You were a PO-leese officer Gary? Cool. Susnfx was with the FBI, you a bobby.
Any Royal Canadian Mounties out there?
I used to be a detective with the Mattress Police Force. 
All murders are brutal.
Murdering somebody to teach that murdering is wrong does not work.
Besides, if you kill them they won’t learn anything.
I’ve got all my tags!!! I swear!!!
Sure, but 50 lashes will though.
I have no insight into the psychology of senseless killers of any age, but something tells me that the lives of these kids must already have been destroyed before they committed this crime.
Let’s remember something, folks. We’re not talking about sweet, innocent 16-year-olds, here.
These guys planned this, and thought about it, and decided together to take weapons with them, hunt this poor learning-disabled kid down like an animal, and hack him apart while he was still alive.
Do I feel sorry for them that their lives are going to be destroyed in prison? Not particularly, not in this case.
In fact, I would think life in prison without the possibility of parole would make more sense for these kids. If you let them out, there is every chance they will kill again, for the smallest whim.
–James
If this were your child who murdered somebody else’s child, would you want your child put to death or beaten fifty times?
The crimes committed may be absolutely horrid and detestable, but murderers are still human beings and still have rights, whether we want them to or not.
It’s a shame the only rights the victim had were the right to run in fear, the right to bleed, the right to beg, the right to cry, the right to die.
Cran, out of curiosity, what punishment do you think these murderous kids do deserve? Were you the judge in this case, responsible for trying to restore justice and a sense of order to the lives of the poor family whose child was so horribly killed, what would your judicial order be?
–James
I’m not sure. If they were in their 20s, I would definately say prison for many years. But being that one of them was 15 when the crime was commited, I’d be hesitant as a judge or jury member to say, “away for 20 years”. In short, I don’t have the exact answer. I know what the answer is not, though, and that’s death or physical torture.
There are other benefits to capital punishment besides initial effect it has on the perpetrator. It prevents them repeating the crime upon release, and saves the taxpayer having to pay for their imprisonment.
OK, assuing you think their lives are still of value to anyone other than themselves, how about they are hacked about with scythes until they are within an inch of their lives, and then sent to prison for life?
OK, I am with you here. But what about the repeat offenders, who get parolled, walk the streets and eventually do it again? How do you explain this to the family of the new victims? How do you explain that the convict was released and then killed their child? This happens.
Well, I’ll agree that both death and torture are innapropriate.
However, I think life in prison without parole sounds just about right.
Maybe even bring back the chain gang, and put 'em to work at hard labor.
–James
I know it happens. It’s our fault as a society. Perhaps we should have more thourough rehabilitation and treatment programs in our society. Perhaps we should enact economic reform and strenghthen the battles against drugs, both of which could lead to less violent crime. I don’t know. I don’t think I should be expected to have all the answers to all sides of the problem when the problem belongs to every single one of us. We should work on it together.
I am of the opinion that murder and violence can never be good or just things. This includes murder and violence against murderers and violent offenders. Violence and murder don’t make sense, any way you cut it.
The trial judge ordered an adjournment before sentencing in order for ‘reports’ to be made. That’s quite usual, and not just for ‘serious’ offences.
‘Reports’ include investigations by social services into the lives and characters of the guilty parties. So you may rest assured that if the three murderers in this case were in any way unfit to be sentenced, they would not have been. Also, if there were any “mitigating circumstances” (they were temporarily insane, drunk, drugged, coerced, heard voices or had been conditioned by brutal upbringing etc) they would have been made known to the court during the trial of the one defendant who pleaded not guilty, and in the reports of the two who pleaded guilty.
They fact that the three were sentenced to life, here in the UK, is a pretty good indication that they knew precisely what they were doing at the time, beforehand, and afterwards.
I’m still not sure that “this is not a reflection on society.” Consider this recent case: