[patsylimerick]

Originally Posted by Shasown

While it is probably a mistake to assume everyone is 'fixable', shouldn't a civilised society do its best to at least try to rehabilitate children who commit crimes.

Incidentally you mentioned Jamie Bulger, couple of things, first the US criminal justice system is different from ours regarding rehabilitation.

Second there were two criminals involved in the Bulger case, while Venables was sent back to prison for child porn offences Robert Thompson appears to have been rehabilitated, at least so far.

Could i just suggest you also go look at the case of Mary Bell, so 2 out of 3 successes would you say?

I would say that when they die in old age of natural causes, then we can judge whether the system has succeeded or not. It's quite a few decades too early. And three is a rather small sample size. My contribution to the thread initially was exactly what you say in your first sentence. Nothing more.