Does Eric Smith deserve another chance?A story I've followed off and on

Most people hate him but I believe he is truly remorseful and has gotten the help he needs and deserves another chance.

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PaintItBlack wrote:

Most people hate him but I believe he is truly remorseful and has gotten the help he needs and deserves another chance.

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No. He murdered a toddler. I'd never want to see a man like that released.

Who would let their 4 year old walk to camp alone? That's practically still a baby. And no, he doesn't deserve another chance. He brutally sodomized and killed a 4 year old all because people picked on him. Being 'bullied' is never an accuse to harm/kill innocent people. And anyone who does things to harm little children should never be allowed to roam among society ever again. No cold blooded murderer should.

And of course he's gonna act sympathetic. That's because he doesn't wanna spend the rest of his life sitting behind bars, even though that's what he deserves.

I feel sympathy for him because he was a mentally ill 13 year old child when he did this terrible thing.
After listening to a lot of his interviews I do believe he is remorseful and is stable now but I'm going to be in the minority.

I am in the minority and I believe he should have been released. Mainly because children shouldn't be serving long adult sentences. In Canada he would have been released and given a second chance if his crime happened there.  

The issue of his release is more of a question if convicted murderers should ever be released, rather than a question of public safety. All concerns seem mainly directed to his crime, not to his conduct in prison which can conclude if he should stay in jail.

Though the longer he is in prison, the more I start to doubt if he can function outside a prison on his own.

philosopher_king wrote:

I am in the minority and I believe he should have been released. Mainly because children shouldn't be serving long adult sentences. In Canada he would have been released and given a second chance if his crime happened there.  

The issue of his release is more of a question if convicted murderers should ever be released, rather than a question of public safety. All concerns seem mainly directed to his crime, not to his conduct in prison which can conclude if he should stay in jail.

Though the longer he is in prison, the more I start to doubt if he can function outside a prison on his own.

That's why a lot of ex-criminals return to a life of crime, hoping to be caught and sent to prison. They are conditioned to prison life and some of them even miss it.

I know Shawshank Redemption is a movie, but there's a scene where an elderly man has been recently released from prison and resorts to suicide to escape his depression.

PaintItBlack wrote:

I feel sympathy for him because he was a mentally ill 13 year old child when he did this terrible thing.
After listening to a lot of his interviews I do believe he is remorseful and is stable now but I'm going to be in the minority.

He also tortured and violently killed a cat. Afterwards he claimed to be sorry and regretted doing it. He was so sorry that the next time he murdered a child. I say let him rot in prison.

Jenn wrote:

PaintItBlack wrote:

I feel sympathy for him because he was a mentally ill 13 year old child when he did this terrible thing.
After listening to a lot of his interviews I do believe he is remorseful and is stable now but I'm going to be in the minority.

He also tortured and violently killed a cat. Afterwards he claimed to be sorry and regretted doing it. He was so sorry that the next time he murdered a child. I say let him rot in prison.

I didn't know that or if I did I forgot it.I have known of the case for a long time but am not an expert .
I do not think he will ever get out anyway as he has been in prison for close to 23 years and gets turned down every time he comes up for parole.
If he ever does manage to get out,I think he will be a very old man then who likely wouldn't be a threat at that time.

I was unaware of this case until just now. It seems to have similarities to the James Bulger case over here.

The two boys who committed the murder were both released as adults. One apparently is living a relatively normal life. The other has been done for downloading child porn.

I have heard of that case.Even though the two boys were ten years old at the time and did a total of I believe 11 years in juvenile detention before being set free at age 21,the hatred for them is overwhelming and there has been all kinds of threats against them and people trying to find out who they were and hunt them down.
I think both boys must have been very disturbed to commit such a crime at 10 years old.I read the two boys had years of intensive therapy during their incarceration so I'm surprised one would commit such a crime again.



That part of it reminds me of the two Arkansas school shooters.Because both were under 14 they were also released at age 21 but were not given new identities by the state.There was widespread outrage about this and the prosecutor said he wished he could have given them the death penalty.

Mitchell Johnson was out of jail for a while but is now back in on drug and armed robbery charges. Drew Golden who was two years younger got out, changed his name himself and has lived a quiet life ever since.

Yep, one of the Bulger killers (Thompson I think) didn't seem to be getting the help he required inside - one of the guards was having a sexual relationship with him when he was 17 if I recall correctly.

I seem to remember hearing something about that.Is he the one back in prison now? He obviously didn't get the help he needed to be caught with child porn.
I read that the other one(Venables,I think that's his name) has a steady job, and a long time girlfriend and they have a child together which when that became known caused a huge outcry but because he lives quietly I don't think most people know his new identity.

PaintItBlack wrote:

I seem to remember hearing something about that.Is he the one back in prison now? He obviously didn't get the help he needed to be caught with child porn.
I read that the other one(Venables,I think that's his name) has a steady job, and a long time girlfriend and they have a child together which when that became known caused a huge outcry but because he lives quietly I don't think most people know his new identity.

Venables was the one who went to prison for the child porn. He was released in 2013 and I read this article that he signed up to dating sites under a new identity and women talking to him have no idea who he is and what he's done.

Thanks for the information Jenn.I am not an expert on this case so I don't know a lot about the two boys individually.Venables must still be under a new identity because if he wasn't there is so much hatred for the two out there I'm sure someone would have tracked him down and did something bad to him if not kill him.

I love in the north west of England about an hour from Merseyside where it happened. You hear now and then about what they are up to and people apparently identifying them.

That said, the info varies from them still being round here to they were sent to Australia. I'm not sure what is accurate really. I do remember when this happened though I was only 8 or 9. It was all over the news here.

That really surprises me.As much hatred is there is for them if people know who they are , I am shocked that someone has not physically attacked them or worse.
I certainly don't wish that on them but there are people out there willing to go to prison for doing such a thing.If they are being left alone, they are pretty lucky although I imagine both must always be conscious of looking over their shoulder.They have to be aware of the hatred for them so I don't see how they couldn't be on guard.
This is a tough case.
There was outrage about them ever getting out and most people felt they should have done life in prison but I don't think I can say that two 10 year old children should be locked up for life with never a second chance.
They were obviously disturbed but 10 years old is extremely young.
Thompson seems more rehabilitated than Venables since he lives a quiet life and stays out of trouble.

Both these cases remind me of the Mary Bell situation.
She is now in her 60's I guess but people are still angry that she was ever let out of prison even though she has went on to have a daughter who is now grown with her own children and seems to have raised her well and had a productive life.
I believe that Mary Bell is at least somewhat rehabilitated as she did raise a child and as far as I know has never been in trouble again.I think I read something about some years ago the press had discovered Mary Bell new identity and were going to expose her but she went to court and got a permanent protection order to stop that from happening.