Case Study: Child Killers

This case study involves child killers Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, both 10 years old. They both were charged in the killing and mutilation of two year old James Bulger in 1993.On the day of the killing, both were skipping school and were casually observing children in a busy mall,possibly looking for a victim. Their plan? Find a child to abduct, lead him to the busy road by the mall,and push huim into oncoming traffic. Niether boy knew the exact reason for killing James,other than it just happened. They stole items like,sweets,batteries and a can of blue paint;which was later found at the crime scene. After killing James by beating him with bricks, stomping him, and decided to gether to mutilate their victim. Found guilty on Novemeber 24,1993,they were sentence to prison until they reached age 25.

One might wonder what goes on in the mind of a child who kills at a young age, do they not know the consequences of their actions? Is it self interest? A way to seek

Not only that, child killers wants the desire to feel powerful or tend to use their victims as a “science project”, trying different levels of violence on their victim, to see what reaction they may have. This in my opinion,I believe many child killers possess. Firstly, the egocentric behavior, is satisfying one`s interest. Regoli, R., & Hewitt, J. (1991). Secondly, the attitude of the boys during the trial would suggest to me that they did not care about killing the toddler. Not experiencing the guilt of killing their victim would suggest the theory of moral disengagement, which is the “individual`s tendency to use mechanisms conducive to a selective disengagement of moral censure.” Regoli, R., & Hewitt, J.