EBOOK When Children Kill Children:Penal Populism and Political Culture

This title examines the role of political culture and penal populism in the        response to the emotive subject of child-on-child homicide.Green explores the        reasons underlying the vastly differing responses of the English and Norwegian        criminal justice systems to the cases of James Bulger and Silje Redergard        respectively. Whereas James Bulger's killers were subject to extreme press and        public hostility, and held in secure detention for nine months before being tried in        an adversarial court, and served eight years in custody, a Redergard's killers were        shielded from public antagonism and carefully reintegrated into the localcommunity.          This book argues that English adversarial political culture creates far more        incentives to politicize high-profile crimes than Norwegian consensus political        culture. Drawing on a wealth of empirical research, Green suggests that the tendency        for politicians to justify punitive responses tocrime by invoking harsh political        attitudes is based upon a flawed understanding of public opinion.In a compelling        study, Green proposes a more deliberative response to crime is possible by making        English culture less adversarial and by making informed public judgment more        assessable.