Research about killers

To get ideas for our film Poppy and I both have done some research into Children who kill. I think it is a good idea because we will then maybe get an over all idea of why the children may do it. For our film we had an idea that the child could maybe have had a bad past eg been beaten or abused in other ways. By looking into other killings we can maybe use some of the things that happened to them and show them in flash backs to make the audience try and understand why she is killing people.

James Bulger.
- In February 1993 two boys named Robert Thompson and Jon Venables murdered two year old James Bulger after kidnapping him from a butcher's shop in a shopping center with his mother.
- The boys both ten years old were skipping school and took the young child on a 2½ mile walk ending at railroad tracks. At a canal on the way he gained head and face injuries from being dropped on the floor,
- They were seen by at least 38 people, some noticed head injuries on the little boy. It was reported that he seemed upset and distressed, yet other's reported he was also seen laughing happily.
- Once they reached the tracks, blue paint was thrown in James's face, they kicked him, battered him with bricks, stones, and a 22 lb iron bar; shoved batteries in his mouth; and sexually assaulted him before covering his lifeless body with bricks and stones on train tracks. A train severed his body. The boys went home afterwards to watch cartoons.
- Thompson was described as quiet yet friendly. When he was five, his drunken father who beat and sexually abused his wife and children abandoned family. The following week their home burned down. His mother a heavy drinker, who had attempted suicide, could not control her seven aggressive, violent sons who bit, hammered, battered, tortured, and threatened to knife each other. When one of the boys was returned home from foster care he attempted suicide by overdose. Robert was the least able to defend himself from his siblings.
- Emotionally immature, Venables was hyperactive child who fought at school but after his parents separated, he spent two days a week at his father's (Neil) house nearby. He became a loner with attention-seeking tendencies. He banged his head on walls and cut himself with scissors at school. He received no help for these behaviors. His mother, Susan, suffered from psychiatric conditions including severe depressive problem. His brother and sister attended special needs for major learning disabilities.


The two ten year old killers.
- I think these events in their pasts may have affected the way they thought about things, but it is still no excuse what they did. This may have triggered them off to kill the two year old, no one will ever know.
- This murder does not give me any ideas what so ever, infact it makes me think how could two children do something like that it is obscene, horrific and disgusting. I will not be doing anything like that in my movie.

The case in Norway.
- In October 1994 Silje Raedergard was playing with friends at a local football field. She had played with the two boys lots of times, but this time things turned rough. . They stripped the girl, stoned her then she fell unconscious, they panicked and ran, leaving her to die in the snow.
- The news of the girls death shocked the small town. With a population of 135,000, the city of Trondheim had only experienced two murders in the six years before her death. Instead of being angry and seeking revenge, the local community felt grief and levels of responsibility.
- I think that this was a fun game gone wrong, the people who killed her may not have meant to, I had an idea maybe that the little girl could "accidently" kill someone, and then keep carrying on because she may have had a terrible past of some sort.

Eric Smith.
- In 1994, Smith was convicted of choking and battering the life out of 4-year-old Derrick Robie. A jury found Smith guilty of murder in the second degree.
- According to court documents, Smithwas a loner and was often tormented by bullies for his protruding ears, thick glasses, and freckles.
- I don't think any of the things he did will inspire me or my partner for our movie, it is sick and disturbing.
Above; Eric Smith.

- I think that all of the killers that I have researched have had bad pasts or reasons that make them feel they have to do something.
- I have noticed that they have been either bullied or had parents that have problems or just don't care about them.
- For our movie I have thought about maybe showing that the child who is going to kill may have been abused or had a bad past that is why she may be killing people, because normal eleven year olds don't usually go out and do bad things unless they have been treated badly before.