juvenile justice

Jon Venables was ten years old when he and another boy tortured and killed two year old James Bulger. He’s now been refused parole on his imprisonment for a separate charge. So how did he end up here? Did he get a fair trial in the first place? And are we getting it right when it comes to our treatment of children who kill?

This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: thetimes.co.uk/storiesofourtimes. 

Guest: David James Smith, Sunday Times contributor and author of The Sleep of Reason: The James Bulger Case.

Host: Luke Jones.

Clips: ITN / Getty, Channel 4, BBC, Merseyside Police, Eyes of the Detective / Teresa Hunt / BBC, TalkTV, Liverpool Lullaby / Martin Wallace / Channel 4, CBS.

Get in touch: storiesofourtimes@thetimes.co.uk

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Josh Dubin is an Innocence Project Ambassador Advisor & President of Dubin Research and Consulting, Inc. He also hosts a podcast called "Wrongful Conviction: Junk Science" available on Spotify. Jason Flom is an Innocence Project Board Member, CEO of Lava Media, and host of the "Wrongful Conviction with Jason Flom", available on Spotify.

Due to a strange combination of nature and nurture, some children unfortunately develop into murderers. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Christian try to understand what causes juvenile homicide, how likely it is and whether these offenders may kill again. Through studies in psychopathy and neuroscience we're looking for an answer to the scariest question: Could my child be a killer?

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