Lizzie - are you for real or did Dame Barbara Cartland invent you?
"society has remained silent about the violence that is all around."
Society has also managed to remain silent about a great number of things not unconnected with these events.
I grew up on the Kirkby estate where the Bulgers live - I'll be there tomorrow afternoon visiting relatives.
I know what shit-holes they are, or certainly where when I was growing up, and I've seen what they can do to people - we have our own versions here in Ireland around Limerick City - or 'Stab City' as it's affectionately known.
You want to shriek "vengence" from two ten year olds - feel free to do so, but you have to ask yourself seriously - would your obvious mentor Mary Poppins approve?
"....what would have been your reaction"
Hardly a hypothesis to produce a rational reaction on my part, don't you think?
"The alternative is to lock them up forever."
And that's the only alternative we have as far as you're concerned Silas ?
"The fact that they were 10 years old does not in any way diminish the crime."
I think that you might find the law of the land might just disagree with you on that point - it may not diminish the effects of the crime but..... look it up..
Jim Carroll