Unforgiven: The Boys Who Murdered James Bulger

Unforgiven: The Boys Who Murdered James Bulger revisits the case of two boys who abducted, tortured, and murdered two-year-old James Bulger in Liverpool in 1993. The killers, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, were only ten years old at the time of the brutal crime, which shocked Britain.

When Venables and Thompson were sentenced, the judge ordered that details of their incarceration be kept confidential. As juvenile offenders, they were detained in local authority secure units. Reporter Deborah Davies investigates treatment strategies within these institutions, raising questions about punishment and rehabilitation, and whether eight years was an adequate period to rehabilitate the two boys. She interviews experts and examines the relatively liberal mobility the pair experienced during their detention. Public outcry intensifies as the murderers’ release back into society becomes imminent.