AS Judge Anthony Russell said yesterday, the "feral thuggery" which brutally stamped out Sophie Lancaster's young life raises "serious questions about the sort of society which exists in this country at the start of a new millennium."
They were killed, we are told, for no other reason than they looked different.
But even the word 'reason' sounds quite ridiculous to anyone with an ounce of humanity.
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Drink and drugs have also been mentioned as possible factors in an attempt to provide some sort of rational explanation for such outrageous, horrifying behaviour.
We must be careful not to look for anything that might be taken as an excuse for such acts.
There can be none.
But as psychologist Dr David Nias says, the members of this gang were clearly "abnormally evil" and that is a result of a combination of "nature and nurture."
There's nothing we can do for the future about tendencies people are born with.
And it is difficult to pinpoint anything specific which made this more likely to happen in Bacup than elsewhere in the country.
Which brings us to the upbringing, or lack of it, that these youths received.
We all have to act to restore values and make clear that raising children carries responsibilities parents cannot be allowed to ignore.
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