Rehabilitation of Jamie’s killers shows system can work sometimes

Venables and Thompson — and the fictional Jack — were lucky in the sense that the State intervened when they were at a very young age.

They were able to return to and participate in society. But those aged 16 and 17 in both Britain and Ireland are often not so lucky

THE IMAGE lingers. Although we were still consumed by the Northern Troubles, who can forget the CCTV pictures of tiny Liverpool toddler James (Jamie) Bulger holding the hand of a much older boy? Their backs were turned to us, but it is what the hands expressed that matters: a universal message of vulnerability giving itself to responsibility. It is the way things should be.