At what age are you accountable for your actions

[Yawn]

so basically i was just thinking with jon venables being released wat r ur thoughts??? (the story is in the link below)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-23190447

he and his friend when they were 10 tortured and murdered a toddler. should he live the rest of his life in jail for wat he did at a very young age? has he served his time?

[myles]

this sort of thing knocks me sick that they allow such a cruel human being back into the world after a crime he committed that effected the victims parents life. To know that your son was a victim of this cruel act would be heartbreaking and devastating. he shouldnt have even been allowed out the first time let alone this time. people like him dont deserve a second chance in life and i wouldnt usually say this but he deserves the death penalty. he may have been young but i'm sorry, no 11 year old is that stupid

[Yawn]

idk obviously i think that at 10 years old u make mistakes and obviously u shouldnt spend ur whole life paying for those actions. but then for a 10 year old to KILL AND TORTURE some1 that is absolutely insane and no normal child would do that. there is evidently something seriously wrong with him. also with the whole child porn thing a couple of years back it confirms that he is messed up as **** and there is no way he should be released

[Lewis]

I say seven years old -- but it depends how you're brought up.

[Yawn]

it just sound weird to blame 30 year old man for something he did at 10

[myles]

subo are you really saying that. even though he was 10 at the time he should know the difference between wrong and right. it is ridiculous to think that a 10 year old boy couild even thing of committing such a cruel act. but shockingly jon venables did so he should be sentenced for the rest of his life as he is seriously ****** up. could you not see the first time he was released how ****** up he really was when he was downloading all that inappropriate content onto his computer. that confirms it in my opinion

[FlyingJesus]

People do change so I get where you're coming from but him potentially (or almost certainly in fact) being a different person to who he was back then doesn't unfortunately change what happened, nor does it mean that he's no longer a threat to anyone. At 10 you should know not to rape and murder a toddler and that's that frankly

[Milarz]

13.

[Empired]

There's a book called Looking for JJ by Anne Cassidy which is a lot like this. It's about a girl who murders her friend at age 10ish and then what she's like seven years later out of prison. I read it a long time ago so I can't really remember but I'm sure "JJ" didn't kill her friend out of malice though, it was kind of half an accident.

I just don't know what to think in situations like these. Part of me thinks that everyone should be given a second chance but another part of me is wondering whether I'd be ok standing next to a man who had murdered a toddler at the age of 10.. Without a doubt I would run away as fast as I could.

[Lewis]

13.

thirteen? As if. A seven year old knows whats right and wrong, even most six year olds.

Seven is the perfect age for knowing between right and wrong. isnt @yuxin; like twelve dnno. does that mean she can get a gun and go on a massive killing spree and get away with it by your thought???

[Absently]

My nephew has just turned 10 today and I'm pretty sure he has a good idea of what's wrong and right. It's just something that you generally just know. I think from quite a young age, you should be able to be held accountable for your actions, like perhaps seven? Tbf, he's already had a second chance at life and he wrecked that, I don't think he deserves another chance. It just seems like he's going to keep doing something to **** it up and will end up back in prison and if he doesn't, he'll probably just be hiding whatever he's doing. In general, a 10 year old doing that is just pretty sickening and vile. Also, like Empired; said - if I was anywhere near him I'd run away immediately.

Is he going to have a new identity again or is he going back in the world as who he was previously, or his real identity??

[Catchy]

Just thought I'd post this which I was watching last night, it's really shocking and it was so hard to watch.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2-Re_Fl_L4

It's real interview footage of a case of a girl (now adult) called Beth Thomas. She suffered attachment disorder as she was sexually abused by her father after her mother had died, when this was occurring she was 9-18 months old. A couple adopted her along with her brother without knowing much about their backgrounds however it soon came to light. Beth started to sexually abuse her brother, attempted to kill him on numerous occasions and she also speaks openly in this interview about how she wanted to kill her entire family.

Whilst all this was happening I think she was pretty young, I think the interview in the video is when she was aged 7 maybe? Anyways she went through intense therapy and actually got better, developed a sense of right and wrong and apparently she now works as a paediatric nurse.

[Cerys]

I'd say the age is currently fine - 10.

Though I think that it could easily be pushed down to 8 or even 7.

It's awful that he's being allowed out again, though. Even if it was a long time ago, there's no doubt that he is capable of doing that sort of stuff again

[Empired]

Just thought I'd post this which I was watching last night, it's really shocking and it was so hard to watch.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2-Re_Fl_L4

It's real interview footage of a case of a girl (now adult) called Beth Thomas. She suffered attachment disorder as she was sexually abused by her father after her mother had died, when this was occurring she was 9-18 months old. A couple adopted her along with her brother without knowing much about their backgrounds however it soon came to light. Beth started to sexually abuse her brother, attempted to kill him on numerous occasions and she also speaks openly in this interview about how she wanted to kill her entire family.

Whilst all this was happening I think she was pretty young, I think the interview in the video is when she was aged 7 maybe? Anyways she went through intense therapy and actually got better, developed a sense of right and wrong and apparently she now works as a paediatric nurse.
I thought if you ever did anything illegal (particularly anything involving children) it meant you could never ever work with children ever again? I know this is true for teachers, why would this not apply to paediatric nurses? Did this girl (now woman) have to go through a load of stuff before she could work with children?

[Catchy]

I thought if you ever did anything illegal (particularly anything involving children) it meant you could never ever work with children ever again? I know this is true for teachers, why would this not apply to paediatric nurses? Did this girl (now woman) have to go through a load of stuff before she could work with children?

Well that's what I thought too, I know people who've been turned down from training to be nurses/midwives because of really minor offences which occurred years and years ago so I really don't know, maybe it's different in America? But I wouldn't expect it to be :S! However this was years and years ago so maybe the laws were different though, I have no clue I'd have to look it up. I still don't know how I feel on the subject, personally I wouldn't want this Beth Thomas looking after my children but then I think it's also important that we acknowledge that Beth Thomas was also a victim.

[Yawn]

its his fourth new identity :(

[Gina]

thirteen? As if. A seven year old knows whats right and wrong, even most six year olds.

Seven is the perfect age for knowing between right and wrong. isnt @yuxin; like twelve dnno. does that mean she can get a gun and go on a massive killing spree and get away with it by your thought???

im 14!!
and i think the current age is fine

[karter]

I think at the age 10, everyone knows what's right and what's wrong especially when it comes to killing someone. However punishment should not be an option, therapy should be but a crime is a crime, and the person should account for what he did, just because he grew up to be different does not change the fact that he committed a heinous crime

[Daltron]

I think an appropriate age when one should be accountable is 16.

At Law School this semester we did a lot of work with restorative justice methods and from what I have seen with young offenders especially 10 and below is that they don't have a proper grasp on society and how things work because of their lack of education, abusive parents, or just third party influences which they can't handle properly and it modifies their perception.

Sure most 10 year olds would fully understand what right and wrong is but a lot of children don't have the benefit and accessibility we take for granted to basic educational necessity. I think in this Venables situation there needs to be an assessment made by professionals as to the mental state of the individual. I don't think they should be held accountable after they have served their time, but if they reoffend then they should be held accountable.

[chantellehugs]

I think you have to consider the idea that every child is brought up differently, when we're growing up we learn and copy from our parents. If a child isn't socialised properly into the norms and values of society then should they do something wrong they won't know that it's wrong because society defines what is "wrong".
But I do think there's a difference between someone who generally doesn't know any better and someone who thinks they can break the rules because they're young.

[Empired]

I think an appropriate age when one should be accountable is 16.

At Law School this semester we did a lot of work with restorative justice methods and from what I have seen with young offenders especially 10 and below is that they don't have a proper grasp on society and how things work because of their lack of education, abusive parents, or just third party influences which they can't handle properly and it modifies their perception.

Sure most 10 year olds would fully understand what right and wrong is but a lot of children don't have the benefit and accessibility we take for granted to basic educational necessity. I think in this Venables situation there needs to be an assessment made by professionals as to the mental state of the individual. I don't think they should be held accountable after they have served their time, but if they reoffend then they should be held accountable.
If you're saying what I think you're saying then this is a good idea. Are you talking about how in circumstances like this each child should be assessed individually rather than there just being a law that says "everyone over 12 should know better!!!!"? That's definitely a much better idea because there are all sorts of factors to take into account.

[Daltron]

If you're saying what I think you're saying then this is a good idea. Are you talking about how in circumstances like this each child should be assessed individually rather than there just being a law that says "everyone over 12 should know better!!!!"? That's definitely a much better idea because there are all sorts of factors to take into account.

I'm saying I think 16 would be an appropriate age to be held fully accountable, anything below that should be a case by case basis for individual assessment as you have mentioned! I do agree that 12 is probably a little young to create strict liability without assessment based on their age/ upbringing/ responsiveness to right and wrong.