Book Review: Children Who Murder
| Author | Anne Grady |
| Date | 01 December 2002 |
| DOI | 10.1177/147322540200200308 |
| Published date | 01 December 2002 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
writing on 11 September, with the collapse of Enron a recent memory and war with Iraq an
imminent prospect, I am attracted by and want to share Braithwaite’s enthusiasm for the
extension of restorative values and practices beyond criminal justice. And, while inevitably parts
of these chapters of the book are less empirically grounded and more speculative than those
dealing with criminal justice, I think that Braithwaite’s combination of normative and
explanatory theory, and his commitment to developing the empirical base of practice, makes
for an argument that is not only persuasive but inspiring.
References
Braithwaite, J. (1999) Restorative Justice: Assessing Optimistic and Pessimistic Accounts, in
Tonry, M. (Ed.) Crime and Justice: A Review of Research Vol. 25. Chicago, University of Chicago
Press.
Robert V. Heckel and David M. Schumaker, Children Who Murder, Praeger
Publishers, London, £54.95 Hb. 0-275-96618-6.
Reviewed by: Anne Grady, Law School, Keele University
This text sets out to examine the existing academic and social understanding of juvenile killers.
Specifically, the authors make it very clear that the book’s aim is to consider children below
the age of thirteen, or ‘pre-teens’as they refer to them. The early chapters highlight the fact
that there are significant differences between pre-teens who kill and older juvenile offenders.
For example, pre-teens are far more likely to kill a family member, but less likely to use a gun.
Similarly, Heckel and Schumaker comment on the classification, typologies and predictors of
this very small group of offenders. However, the limited numbers of pre-teen killers present
some methodological problems for the authors who rightly note throughout that there is,
accordingly, little research in the area, so it is difficult to draw any firm conclusions about them
or their acts of violence. Such conclusions can only be inferred by reference to a much larger
library of research that considers juvenile offenders generally, sometimes including, but often
excluding, the pre-teen group. The discussion and analysis skips and jumps between juvenile
and pre-teen discussion to such an extent that one feels confused. Too often the writers imply
factors within the pre-teen group from findings on the older juvenile group, when to do so is
simply not valid given the argument they present throughout that both groups are very
different and should be treated as such.
The text gains more substance when specific consideration is given to the psychological
profiles of pre-teen killers, and the major social and personal factors that determine their
violent behaviour. A lot of the commentary at this point produces unsurprising results, such
as the failure of the family to comprise a secure and stable unit being a key predictor of violent
behaviour. Here, there is an overwhelming feeling that the text tells us nothing new. However,
it does tackle the difficult issue of early intervention to prevent children progressing towards
more violent behaviour, especially when these predictors are ‘obvious’to relevant agencies.
Similarly, the authors are very happy to label such young people as ‘potentially psychotic’,or
‘psychologically unsound’, something it appears practitioners here are reluctant to do.
Much of the discussion revolves around psychological approaches to the problem of violent
pre-teens and juveniles. Consequently, it is likely that the text will have a limited appeal to
many people who work within youth justice. Having said that, the latter chapters of the book
do draw the reader to think carefully about the manner in which the justice system deals with
this unique group of offenders. Given that most juvenile murderers, especially those in the
pre-teen sub-group, are released at eighteen, the authors question whether six to eight years is
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