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One of the truly shocking crimes of the late twentieth century was the abduction and murder of two-year-old James Bulger in Liverpool, England. His killers were two 10-year-olds, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, who committed the crime for no discernible reason. James wandered away from his mother, Denise, at the New Strand Shopping Centre on February 12, 1993. His mutilated body was found on a nearby railway line two days later. Thompson and Venables, who had skipped school, were photographed by a security camera leading Bulger away. They took Bulger two miles from the mall where they tortured him and bludgeoned him to death with bricks, stones, and an iron bar. The killers then placed the child's corpse on the railway tracks to make Bulger's death appear to be an accident. They were charged with Bulger's abduction and murder on February 20. The twosome were found guilty on November 24, 1993, thus becoming the youngest people ever to be convicted of murder in England. The trial judge sentenced them to be detained at Her Majesty's Pleasure, with a recommendation that they should be kept in custody for 'very, very many years to come,' recommending a minimum term of eight years. Shortly after the trial, the Lord Chief Justice ordered that the two boys should serve a minimum of 10 years, which would have made them eligible for release in February 2003 when they were both 20. The outraged British public felt the sentence was far too lenient. The editors of The Sun newspaper began a petition asking Home Secretary Michael Howard to increase the killers' time in custody. The petition eventually topped 300,000 signatures. This campaign was successful. In 1995 Howard announced the boys would be kept in custody for a minimum of 15 years, meaning that they would not be considered for release until February 2008 when they would be 25 years old. In 1997, the Court of Appeal ruled that Howard's decision was unlawful, and the Home Secretary lost his power to set minimum terms for life-sentence prisoners under 18 years of age. The High Court and European Court of Human Rights have since ruled that, though the parliament may set minimum and maximum terms for individual categories of crime, it is the responsibility of the trial judge, with the benefit of all the evidence and argument from both prosecution and defense council, to determine the minimum term in individual criminal cases. After a parole hearing in June 2001, Thompson and Venables were released on a 'life licence' after serving just eight years. The hearing concluded that 'public safety would not be threatened by their rehabilitation.' An injunction was imposed after the trial, preventing the publication of details about the boys, for fear of reprisals. The injunction remains in force, so their new identities and locations cannot be published (although this ruling only applies to the United Kingdom). They walk among us today, protected by legal anonymity. Meanwhile the hapless James Bulger remains two years old forever...
Tags:
murder
James
Bulger
Jon
Venables
Robert
Thompson
Britain
Added: 15th December 2009
Views: 1451
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
 
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In 1996, when plans were announced to erect a memorial to the late Franklin Delano Roosevelt in Washington, D.C., an emotionally charged controversy erupted: Should America's only four-term president be shown in a wheelchair? FDR had been crippled by polio as a 39-year-old in 1921--and he went to great lengths to conceal his condition for the rest of his life. Because of the stigma attached to disabilities at the time, the accommodating media of the day kept FDR's secret from the public. Most photos and newsreels of FDR show him seated behind a desk or in an automobile; FDR was seldom photgraphed in a wheelchair or standing with the help of leg braces. Thus, a passionate dispute arose about how to memorialize FDR. Should he be shown as he truly was or as the public remembered him? This photograph shows the result: In his statue, FDR is draped in a cloak, which presumably hides the wheelchair. This compromise did not suit many advocates for the disabled. A smaller statue of FDR, clearly in a wheelchair, was erected near the main memorial in 2001.
Tags:
FDR
memorial
controversy
wheelchair
Added: 11th October 2009
Views: 3703
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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In August 1997 the Comedy Central cable network debuted the animated series South Park. Its irreverent humor quickly became a smash hit, drawing TV audiences in the millions. Not everyone was enamored, though. South Park's frequent depiction of taboo subject matter, general toilet humor, accessibility to children viewers, disregard of decency standards, and portrayal of religion for comic effect have been the main sources for generating controversy and debate over the course of its run. No subject is off limits and people and policies from every political stripe have been skewered.
Tags:
South
Park
television
sitcom
Added: 4th October 2009
Views: 686
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Posted By: Lava1964 |
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