Applying Theory To Practice

Submitted By monielove44
Words: 846
Pages: 4

Case Study 1:
Applying Theory to Practice

Simone Irondi
Professor Baggot
Criminal Justice: Juvenile Delinquency and Justice
May 3rd 2015

The case that stood out to me the most and I chose was the second case. This is the case of Jon Venables and Robert Thompson in 1993. This case caught my attention the most because I did not think that two little boys from Liverpool were capable of committing a crime so heinous. The three key aspects to this story are, Jon and Roberts’ usual activities, how gruesome and the premeditation of the killing of two-year-old James Bulger was in February of 1993. England has never seen anything like this before. James Bulger was not only abducted he was tortured and murdered by Jon and Robert. Jon and Robert was a pair that was well known by the people around town. Jon and Robert age 10, were notorious for mischievous behavior and skipping school. February 12th 1993 began the same way most of Jon and Robert’s days begin, by skipping school, but this time they found James at the New Strand Shopping Centre meandering in front of A.R. Tym’s butcher’s shop while his mother shopped for meat and momentarily loosing sight of James. They lead him away from the shopping center with one thing in mind. This moment can be described in such detail because it was all captured on a surveillance camera recording as well as thirty-eight people reported seeing the three young boys. Bystanders saw that James had a bump on his forehead and was crying but the older boys claimed to be James older brothers. As soon as they were able to get the little boy to them selves, they began to torture him. According to his autopsy report they kicked and stomped on him, and threw bricks and stones at him. Batteries were placed in James’s mouth. Finally, a twenty-two-pound train fishplate was dropped on him. James suffered ten skull fractures as a result of the iron bar striking his head. The case's pathologist stated that James suffered so many (forty-two to be exact) injuries that none could be ruled as the fatal blow. Before the boys left James, the boys laid James lifeless body across the train tracks and covered his head with gravel, hopping that a train would hit him and make his death an accident. James’s severed body was discovered two days later. Later it becomes known that this was not the first time the boys had thought about doing this to someone. In fact they had attempted to abduct a boy but his mother realized too soon. This shows that the boys had thought this out before. That makes it premeditated. As the trial came to a close Jon and Robert were found guilty of James’s murder. Jon and Robert were to do a minimum of fifteen years and not considered for release until February 2008. The three factors that I believe are important to understanding the origin of juvenile delinquent behaviors; family, peer influence and exclusion. Family plays a large role in the molding and foundation of child. If a child had a family that condones crime drugs and violence, than that child has a very high chance of also getting in to the same life style. Peer influence is also as big as family is. But peer influence is more