Throughout history there has been considerable debate and discussion about why people breaking laws excite public interests. People throughout the world have a massive interest in crime and criminals, as does the media. Crime involves a wide range of behaviour that excites and encourages people to watch and read about criminals in the media. Marsh and Melville (2009) have written about the role that age plays in the portrayal of criminals and the changes that have occurred over time in the way the media have reported on young offenders.
When it comes to the issue of the juvenile justice system it can be said that certain changes and developments have been influenced by public and media concern over youth offending (Marsh & Melville 2009). During the early 1990s the media regularly reported on young people participating in joyriding. Marsh and Melville (2009, p.71) state that “certainly the press was full of stories of young people stealing cars and then using them for spectacular…shows of bravado”. It could be said that youngsters during this time period were offending so frequently that the press had to report on it and make the public aware of juvenile delinquents.
In 1993 this concern for high offending by young people reached the ultimate high when two-year-old Jamie Bulger was abducted by -year-old boys, Thomson and Venables from Bootle shopping centre in Liverpool, England. These two young boys were found guilty of murdering Jamie Bulger and the media headlines heavily reported on the horror video Child’s Play 3 had something to do with the horrific violence that had been committed here. The video was rented by one of the boy’s father shortly before the murder was committed and there were disturbing similarities between scenes of Jamie’s killing and the video. However, there was no evidence that the two killers ever saw this video, but “the judge still stated at the trial that, I suspect that exposure to violent video film may in part be an explanation” (Marsh & Melville 2009, p.23). The media echoed this view and said that any already disturbed child who was exposed to such images of brutality would turn to such violence.
Media reports throughout England had emphasized the themes of evil and childhood horror rather than childhood innocence when it came to the reporting of the conviction of Thomson and Venables. During this period, the media played a significant role in constructing a certain picture of the two boys as being pure evil and they should be given life in prison, never to be released. The media constructed a certain ‘moral panic’ and influenced the wider public’s negative perception of youth and youth crime after the murder of Jamie Bulger. Siddique (2010) says that “murder and subsequent legal rulings have had a profound effect on the way the society perceives children” as well as the way the media report on such crimes.
Should these children be allowed to live a normal life now that they have served their time and are adults or should they be punished further and spend the rest of their natural life behind bars in an adult prison???
The faces of 'pure evil'
References Marsh, I & Melville, G 2009, Crime justice and the media, Routledge, New York.
Siddique, H 2010, ‘James Bulger killing: the case history of Jon Venables and Robert Thompson’, Guardian, 3 March.
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