Cries unheard : why children kill : the story of Mary Bell / Gitta Sereny.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sereny, Gitta

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bell, Mary Flora.

Murderers--England--Newcastle upon Tyne--Biography.

Murderers.

Juvenile homicide--England--Newcastle upon Tyne.

Juvenile homicide.

Juvenile delinquents--England--Newcastle upon Tyne.

Juvenile delinquents.

Biography.

England--Newcastle upon Tyne.

Physical Description:

xxi, 382 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Edition:

First American edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Metropolitan Books, 1999.

Summary:

In 1968, at the age of eleven, Mary Bell was tried and convicted of murdering two small boys in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Even before she came to court, Mary Bell was demonized as the incarnation of evil, the bad seed personified. But Gitta Sereny, who covered the sensational trial, never accepted this explanation. Over the years Sereny came to realize that if we are ever to understand the pressures that lead children to commit serious crimes, then we need to turn to the adults who once were those children.

Twenty-seven years after her convictions, Mary Bell agreed to talk to Sereny about her harrowing childhood, the two terrible acts committed nine weeks apart, her public trial, and her twelve years of imprisonment -- to discuss what was done to her and what she did, who she was and who she became. Nothing she said in five months of intensive talks was intended to excuse her crimes: she herself rejects all mitigation. But Mary Bell's devastating story forces us all to ponder society's responsibility for children at the breaking point. As the school killings in Arkansas and Oregon so sadly show, hers is not an isolated tragedy: there are thousands of troubled children across Europe and America who urgently demand our attention, compassion, and action.

Cries Unheard is a masterpiece of research and insight, scrupulously piecing together the damaged life of Mary Bell, who only as an adult and a loving parent herself came to grasp the moral enormity of her crimes. With sympathy and wisdom, Gitta Sereny challenges our willingness to commit ourselves not just to the punishment, but to the prevention of violent acts such as Mary committed. A wrenching portrait of a girl's shattered life and a woman's fight for moral regeneration, Cries Unheard urges us to hear the cries of all children at risk.

Contents:

Part 1 The Trial: December 1968

The Court: 31

Mary

Reflections 1 41

The Investigation: 47

Reflections 2 66

The Prosecution: 72

Reflections 3 84

The Verdict: 92

Reflections 4 121

Part 2 Red Bank: February 1969 to November 1973

Forgetting 141

Betrayals 161

Remembering 177

Part 3 Prison: November 1973 to May 1980

Setback 193

Rebellion 216

Giving Up 235

Defiance 259

Transition 278

Part 4 After Prison: 1980 to 1984

A Try at Life 295

Part 5 Return to Childhood: 1957 to 1968

"Take the Thing Away from Me" 323

A Decision 332

The Breaking Point 336

Part 6 Beginnings of a Future: 1984 to 1996

Faltering Steps 351.

Notes:

Originally published: London : Macmillan, 1998.

ISBN:

0805060677

OCLC:

40408678