In August 1993, the thirteen year old Eric Smith choked and battered to death a young boy who was not quite five then sexually violated him. I remember this case well because although on the other side of The Pond it generated quite a bit of publicity here, because although he was thirteen, Smith looked about ten, and because the murder was committed on my birthday. Earlier the same year, an even younger boy was murdered here in even more shocking circumstances by two even younger boys, but there is really no comparison with the James Bulger case.
This documentary is remarkable because in the typical and at times insane fashion of America's open justice, we see the court proceedings and hear from the victim's parents as well as Smith's grandfather and much more.
Apart from Smith, the only person herein worthy of our contempt is the defense psychiatrist who said Smith was suffering from "intermittent explosive disorder". These ludicrous disorders should be consigned to the dustbin along with the "DSM" because they are descriptions of behaviours not mental conditions.
Smith was granted parole in October 2021 and released early the following year, relocated to New York City some two hundred miles away from the village where he grew up. He said he has a fiancée (yes, there are such women) and wants to start a family, living the American dream. Most people would settle for him disappearing into obscurity like Robert Thompson, one of the Bulger killers.
This documentary is remarkable because in the typical and at times insane fashion of America's open justice, we see the court proceedings and hear from the victim's parents as well as Smith's grandfather and much more.
Apart from Smith, the only person herein worthy of our contempt is the defense psychiatrist who said Smith was suffering from "intermittent explosive disorder". These ludicrous disorders should be consigned to the dustbin along with the "DSM" because they are descriptions of behaviours not mental conditions.
Smith was granted parole in October 2021 and released early the following year, relocated to New York City some two hundred miles away from the village where he grew up. He said he has a fiancée (yes, there are such women) and wants to start a family, living the American dream. Most people would settle for him disappearing into obscurity like Robert Thompson, one of the Bulger killers.