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Comment by jon_adler | Hacker News Reader

There should be a reasonable age for criminal responsibility. Compare the different approaches of the British [1] who tried 10 year olds as adults and the Norwegians [2] who took a different approach. Which is more civilised? Which is more likely rehabilitate the offender?

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_James_Bulger [2] https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2010/mar/20/norway-t...

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You couldn't have picked a worse case for trying juveniles as adults. I think any country that wouldn't try these animals as adults couldn't be called civilized. Torturing and mutilating a 2 year old at the age of 10 is not recoverable human behavior.

And of course...

> Venables was sent to prison in 2010 for breaching the terms of his licence, was released on parole again in 2013, and in November 2017 was again sent to prison for possessing child sexual abuse images on his computer.

I beg to differ. As revolting as their actions were, it is hard to consider 10 year olds as adults and treat them as such in the eyes of the law. The recidivism you raise could actually support my argument rather than strengthen yours. Had they been treated differently (I.e. more as children) perhaps they might have been rehabilitated and ended up more “normal”.

Don’t misunderstand my position. What they did was vile beyond comprehension, but were 10 year olds fully responsible for their own behaviour at this age?

For doing what they did to a fucking 2 year old? Yes. A crime against an adult might be more excusable, but this is evil beyond redemption.

It's not really relevant whether they're fully responsible. Is a dog responsible when it bites a person? No, but it's unfit for civilization, and must be put down.

while I agree that all dogs should be put down, the issue is much more complex than this. What even is civilization? there are plenty of civilizations where killing the weak is praised and encouraged.

Starship Troopers?

> You couldn't have picked a worse case for trying juveniles as adults. I think any country that wouldn't try these animals as adults couldn't be called civilized. Torturing and mutilating a 2 year old at the age of 10 is not recoverable human behavior.

That does not mean you have to try them as adults. You have to try them as 10 years old who have done that. Factually, they are not adults.

Why is it not recoverable? I'm no psychologist but I'd expect almost any behaviour you express at 10 years old is correctable.

Wow, advocating for a lighter hand in the murder of James Bulger is certainly new. Personally, I would have preferred life without parole in that case.

why must be people be "rehabilitated"? killing, including killing for play, is perfectly normal among all carnivorous mammals, and we are carnivorous mammals, like it or not. it's not murderers or rapists who are in the wrong, but "civilization" which forces people to behave unnaturally

I disagree with this. Animals will only act how they act until it becomes inconvenient (I.e death ). It’s not that their way of acting is right but just so that their environment allows for it without outright threat of extinction. If the environment became one in which being carnivorous was disadvantageous (let’s say some freak virus that only transfers through the consumption of meat) then even though they’re following their natural instincts , the world is no longer a place for them.

Similarly, civilization is as natural as a meat-only transferring virus. It’s a environmental change. In this environment. Murders and rapists are usually disadvantaged. Its never a matter of who has a right or non-right to exist by what’s “natural” but what is advantageous given your environment.

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