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Killing the “closure” myth

Helen Parker

by Helen Parker

19 Sep 05:55am

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Filed under: Closure, Crime, Daniel Morcombe, Murder

68 comments

I grew up on the edge of a World Heritage region. It’s a twisted irony that these rainforests proved an ideal place for criminals to hide their activities. Where better to dump a dead body than in a remote wilderness?

The charging of a 41-year-old did little to help the distraught Morcombe parents find so-called closure. Pic: Jack Tran.

This horrible truth was discovered by two little girls, who 40 years ago found the decomposed remains of a child in the bush. Vicki Barton was an eight-year-old local, snatched from the steps of a Blue Mountains shop in 1970.

Like murdered Queensland schoolboy Daniel Morcombe, there was a massive hunt to find the kidnapped girl. Grim-faced police spoke to us at school, well before the phrase ‘stranger-danger’ existed. Vicki’s body remained hidden for 18 months until the two girls, about Vicki’s age, made their gruesome discovery.

I recently met with one of those girls. Some 40 years on, she was still clearly haunted by the events. “Closure” is not a word that should ever be associated with murder.

We had coffee the same week Daniel Morcombe’s alleged killer was arrested. The news sent her into a spin. It strikes me that “closure” is an appropriate term for resolving the fight you had with your aunt last Christmas. “Closure” is when you find your lost dog. “Closure” is not the right word to use when talking about homicide.

I was reminded of this when Daniel Morcombe’s parents gave a painful press conference recently at the gates of their home to comment on the arrest of the alleged murderer of their son. Many of the journalists present have followed the case for years and know the Morcombes well. But one reporter; a female, more intent on scoring an easy headline-type question bluntly asked:

“So does this arrest bring some closure?”. Denise Morcombe grimaced at the word, yet politely answered: “That’s not a term we feel comfortable using”.

“Closure” is a lazy question from a reporter that’s got more training from TV shows like CSI than actually dealing with victims of crime.

As a TV news producer I covered the horrific fatal shooting of a young woman by her former boyfriend. The girl’s family prefer that I do not mention their names. The effect on the girl’s family and her surviving sister has been so devastating they have on many levels withered as human beings.

Everything about the murdered girl’s family - their views of the world, the way they walk, talk and the way they’ve campaigned for victims’ rights - has all been shaped by the brutal act of a dumped boyfriend.

On the flip-side the perpetrator’s family initially stood by their son, whose failed suicide immediately after killing his former girlfriend left him permanently injured, but his actions could never be undone. His parents, so I’m told, died broken people.

I caught up with the perpetrator about five years ago, his prison term served. He lives in secret. I wanted to do a story on him and although he declined, we spoke at length through the security wire of his front door, until he stepped out of the darkness up the the wire and finally admitted who he was.

I entered his residence, and we had small talk trying to find some common ground. We both liked David Bowie and we listened to “Wild is the Wind” as he spoke of the ‘incident’ when he shot his girlfriend at point blank range in the head.

I was hoping there might be some remorse, that he might do his best to put things right for those he’d hurt. But his eyes reflected black pools of anger for the victim and her family. I actually found myself perversely concerned for him.

As promised I haven’t revealed his past to his mates, nor have I told the girl’s family of his whereabouts. But on all counts, this killing still has all parties spiralling emotionally 20 years on. It’s been gut wrenching to witness. Zero closure for anyone concerned.

Years ago I was allowed into prison (filming with the convicted) and also spent time with many different victims of crime. Their stories, their lives and circumstances almost always seem so unfair, so random and part of the unpredictable chaos of life.

The strength of Daniel Morcombe’s parents Bruce and Denise can never be measured in normal terms. The Morcombes are giants walking among us, now educating kids about what to do when “trouble finds you”.

When I think of that reporter’s question about “closure” and how impossibly abrasive that must have been to the Morcombes, I think there is a better way to describe the grief for those left.

A victim of crime, whose partner had his throat cut, told me once that “grief is like a river; if you swim against it, fight it, you’ll get exhausted and drown. If you let grief sweep you away you’ll be overcome, but if you learn to swim with it and let it carry you along, that’s the best you can hope for.”

Not closure.

Most commented

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241They must pay for one's bitter disappointments
224The most laughable, err, spoof since Einfeld
224Punch on: Open thread 17/05/2012
215Punch on: Open thread 18/05/2012

68 comments

Show oldest | newest first

    • Huey says:

      06:24am | 19/09/11

      Good article Helen. You have pretty well defined “closure” as I have experienced it. That reporters question to the Moorcombes should have earned her a rocket from her boss. Lazy and tasteless.

      Reply

    • acotrel says:

      07:17am | 19/09/11

      Helen,
      Do you believe the death penalty would help ‘closure’ ?  Or would we simply be perpetuating a crime ?

    • JW says:

      07:44am | 19/09/11

      As a former newscaf professional, I reckon it was probably the reprorter’s boss who told her to ask it.

    • JW says:

      07:45am | 19/09/11

      As a former newscaf professional, I reckon it was probably the reprorter’s boss who told her to ask it.

    • marley says:

      07:49am | 19/09/11

      @acotrel - I think you missed the entire point of the article.  There is no closure. Period.

    • Kika says:

      09:28am | 19/09/11

      Acotrel - revenge is a normal human emotion that we’ve evolved to have.  Suppressing revenge is just as unnatural as the thought that some criminals can be rehabilitated.  The death penalty is all about revenge and not about closure.

    • Helen Parker says:

      09:37am | 19/09/11

      @acotrel - the reality of the death penalty, aside from our primordial instinct to exact revenge or end what we deem an unworthy life, it all comes down to this: death penalties are ultimately a political decision, after all the appeals etc have been wrung out it comes down to a politician signing the Bill or death warrant. If we can’t even trust politicians with repairing roads or taxing us fairly, then how could we trust them with life and death? The only way for a victim to have closure is for their loved one to return, so death penalty I would say brings no closure.

    • Anne71 says:

      12:31pm | 19/09/11

      I never thought there would be any “closure” for the Morcambes in finding their son’s remains. There’s no closure in having that last, slender, desperate hope, the hope that one day he would come home to them, extinguished forever.  All it has done is confirm their worst fears.
      I think the only consolation, if it can even be called that, would be that Daniel can finally be laid to rest with the love and dignity he deserves.  But that isn’t closure.  It’s not even close.

    • L:esley says:

      04:08pm | 19/09/11

      Personally, I have always found the word ‘closure’ an insult and disrespectful. Unfortunately it is one that the world of psychology have brought into the mani sream life, but in fact closure like many things is a personal thing. As someone who has counselled many emotionally damaged people, such words creatd by psychologists are innappropriate in many cases. As you said, it isn’t appropriate for murder.
      For many people who have endured an emotional situtaion, there will never be closure.

    • Bob Stewart says:

      08:17am | 21/09/11

      What a delightfully whole person you are Helen

    • JuliaRosieRochelle says:

      08:11am | 19/09/11

      Capital punishment would not prevent or support ‘closure’, though it might deter some criminal acts from occurring in the first place. There would have to zero doubt that the accused was in fact the perpetrator.

      Reply

    • Kika says:

      10:23am | 19/09/11

      I think most violent, heinous crimes are crimes of passion and the thought of the repercussions of their actions does not enter that persons brain when they are in the throws of violent mania or perversion etc.  So jail or corporal punishment often isn’t factored into account until well after the fact.

    • St. Michael says:

      11:18am | 19/09/11

      I just love it when dills say “I support capital punishment, but only if there’s zero doubt”.

      See, when you are charged with any criminal offence, you are only found guilty if it’s proven *beyond* a reasonable doubt.  That is, the jury finds there *is* zero doubt of your guilt.

      The problem being that there are many, many cases where a jury was of the view there was “zero doubt” of your guilt and when it was subsequently found that, in fact, that there were a lot of doubts about your guilt, and in other cases, that the “zero doubt” was in fact entirely wrong.  And in many of those cases, had the death penalty been around, many of those innocent people would have been food for worms long since.  Andrew Mallard; John Button; Darryl Beamish, to name three from WA.  Not to mention that in those cases, it takes decades for the justice system to admit it got it horrendously wrong (Mallard served 12 years; Button, his entire prison sentence; Beamish got a death sentence but it was remitted to life after the death penalty was abolished.)

      To me, when someone says something like this, it’s because they’re too scared of making a mistake.  And well they should be.  The justice system makes too many mistakes, because it’s made up of human beings, some of whom are fallible, and some (even some police) who have an animus to get someone convicted or killed.  DNA is not a magic bullet, which is really what this misplaced faith is about.  It, too, can be mistaken.  It, too, can be set up to frame innocent people.

      So please.  Spare this bullshit about “capital punishment is okay if there’s zero doubt lol”.  Human justice systems can’t be that sufficiently accurate all the time.  And if they’re not that accurate all the time, innocent people are killed for nothing.

    • Kika says:

      02:00pm | 19/09/11

      St Michael - what in the case of a unremorsement unrepetent repeat sexual offender against children? What if they have committed umpteen number of offences against kids and have no intention to change their behaviour. Corporal punishment doesn’t only mean ‘death penalty’. What about floggings? Or in the case of sexual offenders chemical and physical castration?

    • St. Michael says:

      05:16pm | 19/09/11

      @ Kika: i was actually talking about capital, not corporal punishment.  I don’t have a formed opinion on it.  As it is, there are already regimes in place which compel chemical castration for repeat sex offenders in some cases.

      As to the rest, insofar as it relates to capital punishment:  I don’t have a problem with life without parole imprisonment, especially for repeat child sex offenders.  I also regard the penalties for drug dealers in particular as not being adequate, and could well do with doubling at the very least.

      I am also not terribly interested in those cases.  My concern is in the (please god) rare case where the accused is innocent but found guilty due to error by the judge or jury, or malfeasance by police or prosecutor.  With capital punishment that is carried out there can never be a correction of that error or that crime, and in terms of principles one can hardly criminalise the taking of innocent human life if the state takes it themselves.

    • Kent says:

      07:30pm | 19/09/11

      True St Michael yet if i was wrongly convicted and got a life sentence I would rather a death penalty. In fact if that ever happened I would probably top myself as there would be no way in hell I would serve a life sentence in an Australian prison or any prison for that matter,. So your argument to me is mute. OK to sentence people to life which is effectively death anyway than just get it over with.

      Focus should be on restoring the justice system.

    • St. Michael says:

      10:51pm | 19/09/11

      “True St Michael yet if i was wrongly convicted and got a life sentence I would rather a death penalty.”

      Your feelings haven’t been tested by actually getting wrongly convicted.  They’re also probably not shared by the vast majority of innocent people wrongly convicted, which renders your feelings on the subject largely moot.  Most people actually do have a bit more hope and a bit more regard for the truth and their own reputation than to simply give up and top themselves.  At least if you’re wrongly convicted you can still protest your innocence and there remains a chance you can clear your name.  If you’re dead you can’t.

    • Brian says:

      10:40am | 20/09/11

      The biggest single problem with the death penalty is you can’t compensate the individual you’ve punished if it turns out you’re wrong. Any justice system in existence makes mistakes, and effectively always will. There will always be some guilty people acquitted and some innocent convicted, all we can try to do is minimise the mistakes, correct them when they are found and compensate the victims of these mistakes for losing 5/10/20 years of their life.

      Corporal punishment allows such compensation, particularly when it is non-permanent (caning, chemical castration etc) - we can always say it’s worth a thousand dollars per stroke or something similar. Even permanent but non-lethal punishments (physical castration etc) can be compensated for, but the death penalty can’t.

      As for cases when we say ‘Oh, we know he did it, he’s been convicted fifteen times before’, where do we draw the line? Five convictions? What if the first two were real and the rest faked by people who wanted him punished further? Ten? Twenty?

    • Kent says:

      06:36pm | 20/09/11

      St Michael was meant to say your argument was mote to me, just my opinion.

      “At least if you’re wrongly convicted you can still protest your innocence and there remains a chance you can clear your name.  If you’re dead you can’t”

      Prisons full of innocent people. When all your appeals are exhausted who the hell will believe you anyway?

    • St. Michael says:

      12:20am | 21/09/11

      @ Kent: like I said: go talk to Andrew Mallard.  They turned his first appeal down—shortly after his conviction.

      They didn’t turn it down several years later when he came back again with the police case file containing admissions the police had deliberately withheld exculpatory scientific material from the defence during the trial.

      The point being: where new material comes to light, you have another shot.  It’s such a powerful option that the prosecution in many English countries is asking for effectively the same right from an appeal judge - the right to put an exculpated person back on trial if “new” evidence “arises”.

      And actually, for the most part prisons are full of guilty people—the majority of charges end up in guilty pleas.  It’s the minority of innocents that keeps me awake at night, not the majority of evil buggers who deserve to be exactly where they are for several decades.

    • Fiddler says:

      08:13am | 19/09/11

      closure is learning to accept what has happened, it’s a poor term as it indicates continuing as if nothing happened. People need to learn how to move on. Death is death, we all face it. When you accept that it stops being such a burden

      Reply

    • Fiddler you are an Arse says:

      09:20pm | 20/09/11

      We may all die eventually but when the death is a child who has been murdered, saying death is death and we need to accept it and move on is callous. You can never move on from your child being murdered you can only learn to live with the pain. The only time having to bury your child is not the worst situation is when they are buried in an unmarked shallow grave and you do not know where they are or what has happened to them

    • NSW says:

      08:18am | 19/09/11

      I’ve always despised the word “closure”. It is nothing more than another meaningless Americanism we picked up over the years.

      Reply

    • richard.perin@gmail.com says:

      08:35am | 19/09/11

      Ecellent article Helen of Troy. Not even death brings closure. Death is the next big adventure.

      Reply

    • Bec says:

      08:51am | 19/09/11

      An even worse question came a few press conferences later when a reporter, again female, but not sure if it was the same one, asked Denise if they had given up hope of finding all of Daniel’s bones, and did that hurt because they wouldn’t be able to bury him intact. Denise bristled, her eyes flared and she actually spat out “stupid question” with such venom that I got goosebumps while watching at the time.
      Closure might work for others who are greiving but Bruce and Denise have repeatedly said they don’t like the word. Journalists should know that, respect that and never bring it up in their presence. Simple.

      Reply

    • Fairsnotfair says:

      09:25am | 19/09/11

      Agreed - unfortunately, we have “journalists” an expression that is a euphemism for gutter level, insensitive and low intellect. Until we stop gobbling up the nasty drivel fed to us by these so-called professionals, they will continue to feed off the sadness in people.

      Stop training these pseudo-professionals at university level in the manner we have been. Instil some integrity and intelligence into the writings of our young. Encourage a more psotive and empathetic approach to their studies. The current bevy of lecturers in communications studies need a proverbial kick in the backside for inciting such mercenary philosophies.

      Full marks to the families who suffer so much for withstanding the continual onslaught of the media. I doubt I could handle these people with such dignity.

    • Gidget72 says:

      10:04am | 19/09/11

      @Fairsnotfair Bingo!

    • Bec says:

      10:16am | 19/09/11

      Well I am a journalist, but I know that true empathy with and respect for your subject will ultimately deliver a more compelling story. You are really shooting yourself in the foot if you play it any other way.

    • JuzzyD says:

      11:20am | 19/09/11

      I was pretty dismayed to see the sixty minutes journalist ask Daniel’s older brother if he blamed himself for what happened in an almost accusatory tone. The kid has probably been through years of therapy to rid himself of that guilt, and in the chase for ratings they disregard how fragile a young man who lost his brother must be. Despicable.

    • Matt says:

      11:59am | 19/09/11

      Journalists are only responding to the market.

    • Bec says:

      12:33pm | 19/09/11

      Yes ratings and headlines are undoubtedly chased after with arrogance and disdain…but it takes two to tango here. The mass media market is increasingly demanding vile, juicy details. We live in a tabloid world and the net has created a voracious hunger for new angles, updates every minute and something no other media outlet has. That, as well as disrepect and inexperience, drives those sorts of questions.

    • Phil says:

      08:56am | 19/09/11

      @marley,

      There is also often little justice either.

      Reply

    • old fart says:

      08:58am | 19/09/11

      I was watching an interview on television of a fireman involved with the 9/11 attack.  And the same question wwas asked of him.  His response was “you dont get closure, you live and deal with it everyday for the rest of your life. ”  I muust admit “closure” a term used by the warm and fuzzies in spin and PC language, does not sit well with me and frankly find it offensive, It is like putting a time limit on the ability of the effected person/people to deal with something.

      Reply

    • AFR says:

      09:03am | 19/09/11

      The term “closure” is some seppo BS that somehow entered our vocabularies in the last 10 years or so.

      Reply

    • dw says:

      11:25am | 19/09/11

      what is seppo?

    • philip says:

      12:02pm | 19/09/11

      Dw seppo is short for septic tank ie yank = septic tank

    • Anne71 says:

      12:34pm | 19/09/11

      @ dw It’s an abbreviation of “Septic”, as in “Septic Tank”, which is rhyming slang used by some people for “Yank”.
      Who says the interwebs can’t be edumacational? wink

    • rach says:

      03:35pm | 19/09/11

      My brother always called yanks ‘seppos’ because he claimed they are both full of sh*t.

    • Marcus says:

      09:24am | 19/09/11

      In fairness, “closure” in the context of the Morcombe case can mean that at least the parents finally know the truth.

      It’s not about “getting over it”, more that they can fully accept the fact that their son is dead and grieve for him properly, instead of torturing themselves with false hope and uncertainty.

      Reply

    • Cynicised says:

      11:36am | 19/09/11

      Yes, I think that’s what was meNt by the unfortunTe term also. However, these poor parents have to endure the legal system dragging it’s feet until some kind of “justice” is merged out to the perpetrator, which could take up to another four years.Poor bastards, my heart aches for them.
      Paradoxically though, I hope that at some point in the future they can find some kind of forgiveness in their heart for the crime done to their innocent
      son. Ultimately, the desire for revenge and anger will eat away at their spirits. After they have travelled with their grief i hope they eventually find some peace in their lives. That will be closure, of a sort, although the memories and the pain will never be healed.

    • Cynicised says:

      12:03pm | 19/09/11

      Flipping autocorrect. Grrr! I meant meted out, not merged.

    • Kika says:

      09:25am | 19/09/11

      Well done. Excellent points.  Our whole justice system is warped. It is only there as it is to make society feel better by locking crims away rather than any attempt to assist the victims with their loss and grief. The victims have nothing to do with the criminal justice process and so they are ignored. Only if the judge wants to read their Victim Impact Statements, and these are only read during sentencing (after a verdict is reached) may their opinions and thoughts can be taken into account.

      I think for some crimes corporal punishment should be brought back.  Does an eye for an eye create a healthy society? Revenge is something deep within the human psyche and one of our primitive emotions we’ve had through our evolution trying to suppress these feelings in order to promote fluffy politically correct notions such as ‘rehabilitation’ is unnatural.  We all know most violent crimes are crimes of passion, with no premeditation, calculation or assessment of the risks of doing the crime vs getting caught. People do it because of uncontrolled rage and anger, or because of some deep perversion in their brains make them think it’s acceptable and the thought of doing the crime vs getting caught doesn’t compute.  How can you expect these people to be rehabilitated in a jail because of these crimes?

      Reply

    • Austin 3:16 says:

      02:47pm | 19/09/11

      Hey Kika,

      Surely the state is supposed to be the arbiter of law. What role then should the victims have ? Should there statements be read at the start of a hearing to perhaps inflame a jury to convict an innocent ?

      ” We all know most violent crimes are crimes of passion, with no premeditation”  so the deterrent value of corporal punishment would be extremely low, and the recidivism rate for murder is amongst the lowest for any crime. The vast majority of those convicted will never re-offend. What then is the point of such punishment?

    • Brian says:

      10:47am | 20/09/11

      Apart from being kept up to date with progress on an investigation the victims and families of victims should have no more to do with the justice process before sentencing than any other witness - to do otherwise risks leading to unfair investigations and trials. Once the official apparatus of justice (however efficient or otherwise it may be) finds the guilty, THEN the victims should have involvement in sentencing and punishment, but not before.

      We, as humans, are often incapable of being impartial when we have suffered. However, this only becomes a problem when we allow it to, by letting those who cannot help but be biased interfere where absolute impartiality is required.

    • Anna C says:

      09:28am | 19/09/11

      Yeah I’m sick of the word “closure” too. I think people who use it have been watching way too much ‘Oprah’ and ‘Dr Phil.’ Closure doesn’t exist.

      I don’t think anyone ever gets over the death of a child, especially when violence is involved. There is no such thing as closure. Most people just learn to accept their child’s death and try to live their lives as best they can, knowing that their child’s absence is always there.

      Daniel Morcombe’s parents epitomise the quiet dignity of people who have lost a child in the most atrocious circumstances but who are trying to bring a semblance of normality to their lives for the sake of their other children and to keep Daniel’s memory alive. They are very brave people.

      Reply

    • JuliaRosieRochelle says:

      10:16am | 19/09/11

      @Anna C.. Agree. They have withstood unspeakable grief with a dignified composure that I find inspirational. And under the glare of publicity.

    • Brizz says:

      11:22am | 19/09/11

      I have made it clear to my parents and some close friends, that if I am ever killed by someone else, be it by accident or ill intent, I would like my family to forgive them.
      We all understand that it would probably be the hardest thing to do, but in my opinion it would be the only way for my loved ones to obtain any sort of “closure”.
      Closure can not come from outside, as the article and other comments show. It comes from within.
      Vengeance/punishment/jail time can only deter possible crimes, it does not rehabilitate at all. In fact, quite the opposite occurs (look up stats for re-offenders after imprisonment and escalation to more violent crimes).
      The topic came up with my family as we were watching the news, and as so often happens, the family of a victim were standing outside a courthouse distraught that the perpetrator of some crime against one of their own was let off with a “light sentence”. They wanted an eye for an eye… understandably too…
      But the way I saw it; at least TWO lives were taken that day. That’s not including the family members who may never find that closure they were looking for (in vain) from the judicial system.

      I’m not saying that all crimes should go unpunished, and especially violent crimes must be deterred. But that is for the courts and the judicial system to decide.
      If we are seeking closure or even justice from these systems, we will almost certainly be disappointed.

      My point is, the forgiveness should be as much for my family’s sake rather than whom may ever commit such an offence against me. They will know that it is what I wanted; my dying wish as it may be.

      Reply

    • MikeS says:

      11:56am | 19/09/11

      I think the point is there is no closure. You can’t just shut the door on these things. They stay with you for a lifetime. You can forgive, that’s true, but you can never forget. You just learn to get on. But it’s always there in the background of your thoughts.

      This part of the Morecombes lives will never be closed. They carry the pain of Daniels loss everyday, no matter if they forgive the person responsible or not.

    • Ben C says:

      01:52pm | 19/09/11

      @ Brizz

      I can see your point, but these events just can’t be forgotten - it will always linger on in the survivors’ minds, just like it is with the Morcombe family right now. They won’t ever get closure, as they will always remember Daniel. Forgiveness can definitely go a long way to minimising the pain, but the pain will never go.

    • Dave says:

      12:54pm | 19/09/11

      About 15 years ago I started work at a business one month after an employee there was the victim of a serial killer. I worked with the colleagues of the victim who had been with her shortly before she disappeared and who all felt deep remorse that they had let her go off unaccompanied to look for a taxi home. At least one of those colleagues suffered fairly severe psychological damage, judging by his erratic behaviour for quite some time afterwards (which in turn was a cause for me leaving the business, badly stressed). Every time the media did a story, or put the victim’s face on a newspaper page or a tv program some of my colleagues would spiral out of control. I never knew the victim but even now, 15 years later, seeing a media report about that murder causes me a fair amount of stress - not least because I know the effect those stories will be having on the friends and colleagues of the victim. When you turn a page and you see a photo of the victim there, unexpectedly, it is a stressful and painful reminder of things that are best left at the back of your mind. In a world where murder reality shows and the like proliferate on TV and the papers are so quick to write up a story based only the “new facts” type of line, it amazes me how insensitive journalists and media operators can be. Do they not realize what real pain they inflict when they write a sensationalist story about some minor part of the story that never mattered anyway? Is such a story worth it given the effect they - repeatedly - have on the friends and families of victims? I dont think so.

      Reply

    • Helen Parker says:

      03:52pm | 21/09/11

      yes, it’s not only the immediate victims it ripples out and affects countless other people. We often had complaints in the newsroom at the ABC and NBN (completely understandable) when a crime was replayed on the news, months, years later; the victims family having to see the blood stains etc all over again. Newsrooms used to have a policy of not re-showing the crime scene aftermath but in recent years that seems to have slipped, generally.

    • The cynic says:

      01:17pm | 19/09/11

      All the talk of the death penalty here is fascinating. Personally I am up to the task of the executioner, would have no problem being the one to carry out the sentence. And I believe put to death the same way they killed their victims. No quick clinically sanitised departure. It may not be proved that CP prevents some other criminal from killing but it sure as hell stops the one put to death from killing again like they invaribly do when released from our piss weak prison system by some weak gutted touchy feely judge who thinks that these monsters can be rehabilitated.

      Reply

    • St. Michael says:

      01:47pm | 19/09/11

      Pity if, as has happened in many murder cases, it’s subsequently discovered that the “perpetrator” in fact was innocent of the crime.  Although it’s a bit late for the person whom the law has, in fact, murdered.

      Still want to carry out the sentence?

    • MikeS says:

      02:22pm | 19/09/11

      I don’t believe that you are. Until you have killed someone before, whether by accident or with intent, I don’t think you can fully comprehend what it means to do such a thing.

      Watching someone take their last breath, seeing their eyes stop sparkling as the last vestiges of life cease is something that stays with you forever, no matter how you try to distance yourself from the situation.

    • fairsfair says:

      01:24pm | 19/09/11

      I don’t think the Morcombe’s would begrudge any question brought to them by the media. I am sure they would balk at the time (at that bones one is just rediculous), but hardly hold a grudge - without the media this case would have been long forgotten. I am sure the Morcombe’s are thankful for their intrusion as it has ultimately helped to bring their little boy home. Closure is a naff word (I have used it myself through gritted teeth in the past) and though no amount of anything will ever rid the Morcombe’s of their grief - the latest does put a full stop at this chapter of the horrible story. Now they will move on to asking why.

      So maybe we shouldn’t really crap all over the media this time - without them, the Morcombe’s would have had to have worked a whole lot harder to get their message out.

      Reply

    • Jimbo Jones says:

      02:05pm | 19/09/11

      I don’t think the Morcombes should ever look to ‘closure’ or feel bad about what happened. They should be so proud of themselves. What other family could stand so strong all these years watching the QLD police blunder around for 8 years. If it wasn’t for the Morcombes perserverance the Coronial Inquest wouldn’t have occurred and they wouldn’t have got the testimonies they needed to tie up all the loose ends. Bravo Morcomes… You all deserve bravery awards. You said it yourself that the offender chose the wrong family to wrong against, and you are 100% correct. Bravo.

      Reply

    • Robert S McCormick says:

      02:15pm | 19/09/11

      Who, in God’s name, created that nonsense word “Closure” in relation to Death? When the remains of a person, young or old, who has disappeared are found. That does not signify any sort of closure. All it does is confirm one’s worst fears. It enables us to confirm what we have feared for years: That person has been killed.
      It enables us to make arrangements for that persons remains to get the funeral they deserve which enbales family & friends to say good-bye.
      There is no such thing as ‘closure”. There is “Acceptance”. Their will be life-long grief which one copes with & gets into some sort of perspective.
      Yes, the media often plays a very useful part but at the same time, particularly Commercial TV Stations, the media literally torments the families, subjects them to unwarranted, unnecessary demands for interviews, denies them the one thing families crave most: The right to grieve, the right to try to come to terms with what has happened, the right to get their lives into some semblance of normality. Often if the media can’t get that from the family they invade the privacy of friends or relatives. The oh-so-mournful voice of the so-called “Journalist” does nothing to relive the pain. In this the media is insensitive & cruel. Their sole aim is “Sensationalism”- anything is acceptable so long as those stupid Ratings Figures hold up.

      Reply

    • Simonious says:

      02:25pm | 19/09/11

      Closure is what you do to a door.

      Reply

    • Josie says:

      03:01pm | 19/09/11

      The biggest impediment to healing is the tacit demand of the victims “Forgiving” the perpetrator. This seems to stem from churches who extol the virtue of forgiving sins and the sins go away. Paedophile priests use this tactic particularly to great effect as any sexual encounter outside of marriage is viewed as sin and sins are forgiven so no problem. Well for the victim no amount of rhetoric can undo the harm done. Our legal system pushes for no to reduced custodial sentences and increasingly, recidivists of all crimes, are returning to court with their victim lists growing. Forgiving is also linked to closure and forgetting, yet memories do not allow this as impaired mental health is harder to erase. Perversely, people who do not show forgiveness are hated for hating, held as somehow accountable for the perpetrators actions or retarded rehabiliation. Just read many judges closing remarks on victim impact statements where, not guilt, but forgiveness influences sentences. ‘Forgiven by the victims family, previous good character, shows prospects for rehabilitation to rejoin society’, ETC. But for many people closure is unattainable, forgiveness an imperative or you are nasty, unchristian and the perpetrators walk free. Social engineers need to rethink their values because as a parent it is normal to want a person imprisoned for life for hurting your child and closure does not ever happen.

      Reply

    • F.W.G. says:

      03:10pm | 19/09/11

      Closure a stupid americanisim picked up from TV by poorly trained people

      Reply

    • Al Chunk says:

      03:52pm | 19/09/11

      “Closure” appears to have come from questionable counselor training courses that give a 7 stages of grieving tick box list.  If all the boxes are ticked in order - problem solved.  Dumb beyond belief.  I cannot imagine closure to such cruelty, I can only hope time helps anaesthetise the despair.

      Reply

    • Utopia Boy says:

      05:02pm | 19/09/11

      Nice article.
      Not much more to say really.

      Reply

    • marley says:

      05:34pm | 19/09/11

      @Utopia - best comment of the day.  The article says everything that needs to be said.

    • Pet of the Month says:

      06:27pm | 19/09/11

      The Laws of Closure are discussed fully in depth in Maths 101 and Stats 101 university courses.

      Reply

    • margaret says:

      09:40am | 20/09/11

      Excellent article , Helen .........using the word ” closure ” in these instances , is as insulting to family members , as is saying ” I know how you feel ”  when you have never ’ walked the walk ’ . An embrace , to even a relative stranger , in trouble , would have more healing power , than any words we could offer .....

      Reply

    • Cat says:

      12:16pm | 20/09/11

      A friend of ours lost her son to murder. That was forty-three years ago. There is no “closure” for her. She does not speak of it or dwell on it. Most people are unaware of the tragedy.
      “Closure” and “compensation neurosis” are terms imported from the US. They have done more harm than good. There is no “closure” in murder and “compensation” does not “compensate”. These ideas can prevent people getting support when they most need it - such as on the anniversary of the death or when a sibling reaches a milestone. 
      Sensational reporting does not help but nor do the pronouncements of many professionals.

      Reply

    • Rebbeca Dostal says:

      10:02pm | 22/09/11

      Fabulous story Helen, its the truth, as one of those little girls that found Vicki Barton there has never been ‘closure’ some 40 years later. It affected every action in our childhood and how we saw the world, how safe were we, suddenly every stranger was a threat. There could never be closure for the Barton family,It took many years to find Vicki’s killer, how did they cope with such a tragedy.  I believe Vicki’s Mother now resides beside her daughter in Penrith. Losing a close family member is hard enough but to loose a child in such tragic circumstances would be unbearable you would never get over it.

      Reply

    • Helen Parker says:

      10:39am | 23/09/11

      Thanks Bec, yes it had a massive impact on all of us, can’t imagine what it was like for you. Thanks for being so open about it i know it wasn’t easy. Best wishes

      Reply
 
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