What are outlying factors and how do they apply to the case; along with what occurred post sentence?

 What do I mean by an outlying factor?

An outlying factor is something that is not directly related to the points and facts of the case. This can take the form of politics, public opinion and the role of the media. As these are not legal factors, they shouldn't have made a large difference in the way the sentence was given. I am aiming to decide if they did make a difference in the overall sentence and why. 

Media:

• "UK media coverage of the trial deeply affected public opinion not just about the perpetrators of the crime but also about juvenile criminals and in fact all children."
• "On the 25 November 1993, the day after the judgement, the Daily Star...ran the photos of the boys with the headline "How do you feel now you little bastards?" ". 
• The media launched a campaign to allow the anonymity of the 2 offenders to be released on conviction. 
• "The press were further outraged by the conditions in which the boys would live while at the Secure Training Centres, referring to it as 'luxury' and decrying the fact that the boys had been rewarded for their crime- and all at the taxpayer's expense"
• "The media launched an attack on the criminal justice system, which they declared was too soft"
• "Sunday's News of the World quoted James Bulger, uncle of James, stating "Killing is too good for those two. There's going to be no hiding place for them"

Public reaction:

• "The public's reaction to the murder of James Bulger was one of horror, outrage and anger"
• "Emotion was running so high that it was almost a taboo to express sympathy or understanding for Thompson and Venables"
• "The public felt that they were part of the case"
• "Nearly 42,000 responded to the telephone and internet poll by the Liverpool Echo. Over 35,000 said that the pair should not yet be released"
• The Sun newspaper threatened to "hunt Thompson and Venables down wherever they ended up"
• "The media are therefore prohibited from printing anything that might lead to their identification or location"
• "Eight years later, more people were willing to see the crime, not just in terms of the 'evil' of the two boys, but as the collective failure of society to address the problems these boys had faced growing up"

Government Reaction:

• "The government introduced legislation and policies that dramatically lowered the number of children in detention centres and the use of judicial proceedings"
• Money was pumped into "community schemes and alternatives to deprivation of liberty"
• "Within weeks of the toddler's death, the then Home Secretary Kenneth Clarke announced proposals to the House of Commons to establish new institutions for 12-14 year old children"
• "The mist significant change to juvenile justice legislation was the abolition of the rebuttable presumption that children aged 10-14 are doli incapax (incapable of committing an offence)
• "The decision of the European court of Human Rights that the Home Secretary did not have the power to set the 15 year tariff and that the trial itself was unfair, violating Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights"

Overall opinon:

After reading the paper, I believe that the public played a part in influencing the media, who launched a campaign against the boys and the youth justice system. The media functions off public opinion, so has to reflect that in order to stay relevant. The media then worked tirelessly to influence the government and politics, which was successful. In a bid to keep in power, both parties promised a punitive approach shown when the Home Secretary illegally raised the tariff of the sentence. The separation of powers theory states that the Judiciary must be separate from politics and the public, however the Bulger case is an example of when this was compromised and the sentence was varied due to these outlying factors, ultimately making the sentence unfair due to the influence by outlying factors. 

What Source have I used?

The source I have used is a paper called Bulger and the UK: The Media, the Public and the Government reaction, found on the website:

https://hpa2mediastudies.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/roleofstatspublicopinion3uk.doc.

The source was published in 2018, however I cannot find the original writer of the paper. I viewed this source on the 30th December 2021. 

The source overall is of high value, as it is academically done with references and a bibliography, meaning the publisher has done their research carefully and meticulously.  

What occurred post sentence?

After both boys were released, they were given new identities and confidentiality of location. However, while Thompson has gone on to not reoffend, Venables has been in and out of prison for multiple child related offences. in 2010, Venables was sent to prison for breaching terms of his license as he was arrested over possession and distribution of 57 child pornographic images, and was released on parole in 2013. In 2017, he was sent to prison again for possession of child abuse images on his computer. 

The source I used for this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_James_Bulger#Later_life_of_Jon_Venables, updated on 9th January 2022. This makes the source valuable as it is constantly being updated, however as it is Wikipedia anyone can edit the source. However, crossing this with news articles I have read a few months ago (unable to find the source) I can verify it is accurate. I accessed the source on the 11th January 2022.