James Bulger Case Resources

Useful Books with Regard to the James Bulger Case...

• Children Who Kill: Profiles of Pre-Teen and Teenage Killers (2003); By Carol Anne Davis
• As If: A Crime, a Trial, a Question of Childhood (1997); By Blake Morrison
• Children Who Kill: An Examination of the Treatment of Juveniles Who Kill in Different European Countries (1996); Ed. by Paul Cavadino
• Destroying the Baby in Themselves: Why Did the Two Boys Kill James Bulger? (1995); By David Jackson
• The Case of Mary Bell: A Portrait of a Child Who Murdered [the reissued 1995 version, which includes a 50-page appendix on the James Bulger case]; By Gitta Sereny
• Beyond All Reason: The Crime That Shocked the World (1994); By David James Smith
• Every Mother's Nightmare: The Killing of James Bulger (1993); By Mark Thomas

Useful Books on the Subject of Youth Violence...

• The Scarred Heart: Understanding and Identifying Kids Who Kill (2000); By Helen Smith
• Cries Unheard: Why Children Kill: The Story of Mary Bell (1998); By Gitta Sereny
• The Biology of Violence: How Understanding the Brain, Behavior, and Environment Can Break the Vicious Cycle of Aggression (1998); By Debra Niehoff, Ph.D.
• Ghosts from the Nursery: Tracing the Roots of Violence (1997); By Robin Karr-Morse and Meredith S. Wiley

  For anyone who is interested in purchasing the above titles, I have found that the majority of them are available on amazon.com. If you are unsuccessful in your amazon search, you might also want to try its UK counterpart, amazon.co.uk. Helen Smith's book, which is currently out of print, is downloadable from her website, violentkids.com.

  Online Coverage of the James Bulger Case

  • Guardian Unlimited: Bulger Case & Trial Archives offers full coverage of the crime as well as detailed documentation of the trial, and articles to mark the tenth anniversary of James's death, in February 2003.
  • Every Parent's Nightmare: BBC Coverage of the James Bulger Case "looks back at the sequence of events surrounding the case," offering articles as well as audio and video clips from 1993 through 2001.
  • Crime Library: The Death of James Bulger: Tragic Child Abduction Caught on Tape is a full reconstruction of the crime and aftermath, written by Shirley Lynn Scott.
  • Without a Trace, first published in the Sunday Times in July 2006, is a thorough article written by author David James Smith, concerning Thompson and Venables' rehabilitation and eventual release on life license.