In 2002, the nation was stunned by the murder of an 11 year old girl by her mother’s tuition student. He was then 12.
After trial and upon being found guilty of murder, he was sentenced to be detained at the pleasure of the King. Yesterday, the Court of Appeal upheld his conviction but released him from prison where he has been held, due to what I would call a statutory technicality that made his detention unconstitutional. As he was 12 at the time of the murder, and technically a child, the Court of Appeal held that there was no provision for a sentence for a child convicted of murder.
The girl’s mother was understandably upset at hearing this result. The boy is now 17 and he had been held in prison for about 4 years. He now says he wants to be a lawyer but as far as I’m aware future lawyers must not have had any criminal convictions against them (Section 11 of the Legal Profession Act 1976). I’m afraid this ambition might just be too far an ideal for this boy.
When I read this piece of news, I was reminded of a not unsimilar case of child murders in England, in the horrifying case of James Bulger. There both the child murderers were 10 and they were ordered to be detained for 10 years. This was later extended to 15 years after public outcry - the case had caught the attention and sympathy of many due to its horrific nature - but was reduced back to 10 years again due to legal issues. However, the 2 boys (now 26 year old men) were released from prison after 8 years and have had their identities changed so that they are not marked by the public.
I don’t profess to agree with the decisions in both cases, whether in England or here in Malaysia. Murderers, whether children or adult must serve their time and must bear the consequences of their act. In the case of an adult, conviction for murder = the death sentence if it applies.
Murder is killing with premeditation - it means the killer planned and acted upon the plan to kill another human being. For a child to do that indicates something seriously wrong with him. It is not a fly he pulled the wings off, nor a dog or cat he disembowelled. It was another human being. In our Malaysian case, he stabbed his victim 20 times and slashed her 4 times. In the English case, they battered the boy and left him to be run over by a train. They should get what is due to them for their actions clearly show they planned to kill, not just hurt or maim.
However, it is a known fact that prisons are universities of crime. If you did not know how to commit any crime, you would by the time you spend enough time in prison. To this end, letting a child mature in that environment may not be the best thing for him.
My concern is about their future. Will they grow up, having forgotten their “childish misdemeanors” or will they go on to more crime, having survived the most heinous of all crimes relatively unpunished? Are they obliged to attend regular psychological evaluations or to meet with a counselor to ensure that they do not commit further crimes or murder?
Criminal profiling tells us to be worried when children perform acts of cruelty towards animals or if they bully other children. In many cases of serial killers, this is the starting point of their killing sprees as they get older. What is the criminal profile then of a child murderer? Are there any precedents to tell us what they grow up to be? Are we letting potential serial murderers walk out of prison to start a life of crime and killing?
To answer my own question:
On an emotional level, I don’t think child murderers should walk free after committing murder. However, practically, balancing their going free after a few years in prison and keeping them in prison for the rest of their natural lives or for a longer period might not be the best option. I would ask that even though they are set free, that they be required to attend counselling sessions and psychological evaluations on a regular basis. And no, society never has to forgive them for what they did. That would be asking way too much.
What is your view?
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17 comments ↓
Phoar! That’s a very “jurisprudential” piece of post you have. Are you a lawyer??
Anyway, the answer to your question depends. If I am to answer according to my human flesh standards, no. He needs to serve life imprisonment - which is basically 20 years minus 1/3 for good behaviour (I think. I am not a criminal lawyer lah).
If I were to answer according to God’s standard, then if the boy has asked for forgiveness and is willing to repent, then he should be given another chance. For under God’s eyes, all sins and transgressions are the same and ought to be punished come Judgement Day the same way.
What makes a thief or robber or prostitute or corrupted person any different from a murderer as far as the fact that law has been broken? The punishment, perhaps.
But here, we have a lacuna in the law which the court has no way but to interpret it like what has been done. Now it is up to the legislature to amend the laws if public policy so demands that child murderers ought to hang.
Wait! If answer according to human flesh standards, an eye for an eye. So he must hang. But but but, he was only a boy. But but but….
Told you it’s been a long day
That’s deep, PB. I can’t say for sure that I support imprisoning him for life, but neither can I feel safe when he is released from prison.
If I had to choose, I would say release him on strict parole and ensure that those who do come into contact with him be made aware of his former criminal (murderer) status. Tough on him to start a new life, but he has to live with what he has done. It cannot be just wiped away with a release, neither can he hope to escape his past.
Furthermore he, as were the boys in the England case, were fully aware that they had killed their victims and that these killings were not accidental. Was the jail term they served long enough? I do not know. Was it right to release them? I do not know.
But I do feel that I would sleep better and feel safer at night if they were still behind bars.
Pablo: Yes I agree the legislature should do something about this loophole. Else we are encouraging kids to kill - get the murder charge out of the way as a kid - you won’t get death
Its like a get out of jail free card.
Rinnah: Yes he should have to live with this conviction for his whole life. At 12 he should know that you should not kill another person. Kids these days are more intelligent than we think. So try them as an adult since they committed an adult crime.
And, what about all those child soldiers in Africa? Horrendous, what the human being is capable of, in different circumstances.. We are lost.
This was NOT pre-meditated, no?
He didn’t plan to kill her. It was done in the spur of the moment when a bulb fused in his head.
Besides, this was NOTHING like the James Bulger murder. The offender here was a kid with a long history of being a victim of bullying. Pent-up frustration and stress due to the bullying must play a part in the judgement.
LB: Yes. Humans’ worst enemy is themselves.
Vincent: Last I checked he was found guilty and convicted for murder which legally means premeditated killing. If it was due to provocation he wouldn’t have been charged and convicted for murder. If he could kill someone because of frustration and stress at 12, think what he can do at 26.
I’m am very unsympathetic on this issue. Murderers should be executed. Age should not be a consideration. If you kill as a child, what are you going to do as an adult?
SA: I fully agree with you. I don’t know how they are going to be integrated back into society with this conviction weighing on them. Adults find it hard enough, much less kids. If they did an adult crime, punish them as adults.
Golly, that’s a toughie. For the morning, anyway.
Premeditated murder calls for planning before killing. At that age, and in the way the killing was carried out (20 stabs, 4 slashes) suggests to me that he did at out of anger and at the spur of the moment. Like a child throwing tantrums.
Still, it does not mean that he should get away scot-free. No sirree. In general, I think it’s a whole lot more difficult to convict a child than an adult, because you don’t know if the child felt remorse or cold indifference after the fact. Even if they feel either, it does not justify what he/she did.
I don’t agree with him being let go so easily, but neither do I agree for him to be placed in prison only for him to be released, what, 20-30 years later, full of hatred, vengeance and anger, only to likely commit worser crimes.
Golly, having said all that, I forgot my point! Dammit. Oh well, keep the bugger in. When released, strict regular counseling sessions are definitely needed.
Well, the counsellor and psychiatrist who attended to him throughout the period he was in prison did indicate that this boy (he’s now 17 years old) requires lots of counselling and rehabilitation as spending 5 years behind bars between the age of 12 and 17 is not how a normal child should live. [source]
As a civil society, whilst murder cannot be justified in any measure, we must examine ourselves whether for a child like him (who at the age of 12 might not be able to comprehend the act of murder) ought to be hung to death just like any adult offender or be imprisoned for life (for what? might as well hang him) or be placed on rehab and social work for a good period of his life.
It may surprise you but in Malaysia, generally, the courts would not impute negligence on a child aged 12 and below when the child runs across the road and gets knocked down by a motorist. That is even if the child has been walking to and fro school for a period of time which may suggest that the child ought to know better. The rationale is that a child of tender years might not be able to or is matured enough to appreciate the dangers of traffic. The motorist will be found at fault instead.
So, if a child of tender years is unable to appreciate the real dangers of traffic and that running across the road might lead to harm on his life, is the same child also able to really appreciate that repeatedly stabbing another person might lead to death???
there is an issue about how the boy was prisoned at the pleasure of the King and Karpal Singh refuted and said that it should hv been at the pleasure of the court. the root problem is that in Malaysia under the CHild Act, we dont have the system to deal with this. SO this case ought to have been used as a precedence. WHAT TO DO? before they decide to release the 18yearold based on technicality. Probation period. Observation period. Periodic counselling. The kid should be reporting to the right authorities (again, that should have been clear, who the designated authorities). The court only decided what to do with the current situation but not a permanent procedure on how to handle such cases. It was a good time to review the ACT but i guess we didn’t have enough foresight and sense to do that.
I think they ought to review our law,
Tine: Its just a grave concern that a stressed and pissed off kid can stab someone so many times and not think it will kill her? Or maybe its just cartoons. Blame it on the cartoons.
Pablo: Fair enough. I think it must be the cartoons
tihtahpah: Welcome. Yes, something must be done about our laws that allow this loophole to happen. The Courts can’t do anything but interpret the laws as it stands. Its now up to the legislature to do something serious for once instead of just approving RM12m to fix a leaky roof.
Talking about cartoons, I wanna watch Transformers tomorrow! Finally….
It’s my daughter’s 4th birthday and what better way than to take her to a cinema for the very 1st time.
Murderers, child or adult, should be made to pay in whatever manner possible. Releasing them on parole sounds like a good idea.
Pablo: Yay! I haven’t seen it yet. Hope she enjoys the movie.
Giddy Tiger: Well, I think we are all in consensus about having to pay, just the manner in which they should be made to pay. Thanks for your thoughts!
hmmmm… I don’t know. hard question to answer. to err is human, even at that young age. if they’re truly reformed, they deserve a second chance, no?