Destroying the Baby in Themselves: Why did the two boys kill James Bulger?

That blurred, foggy frame of the security video has become engraved on the public conscience. The video shows one of the boys holding James Bulger’s hand as the other boy moves away, a little ahead of them. We know that the two boys are taking James away from his mother and safety. If we are ever going to act in a way that loosens that paralysing grip of guilt and helplessness, we need to understand why the two boys did what they did. We can never know the whole truth, but a critical re-focussing on some of the ignored or misunderstood elements of the case is urgently needed, to give us some further ideas about how to prevent child/child killings like this from happening.