Bulger killers ‘too young’: when headline grabbing backfires
The Children’s Commissioner, Maggie Atkinson, has won headlines for claiming that the killers of toddler Jamie Bulger should not have been tried as they were so young, just 10, at the time of the murder. But they are headlines that are unlikely to do her cause any good.
Jamie’s murder has always provoked mass outrage – understandably so — and with it well reported that one of the killers, Jon Venables, is back in prison on child porn offences the commissioner’s words were certain to hog the news. Yet it is unlikely that the ensuing debate will take place in a rational, learned atmosphere. Instead the government has felt obliged to reject the proposal to raise the age of criminal responsibility out of hand to head off any tabloid backlash.
This was an ill-timed announcement that looks like headline grabbing for the sake of it. Wiser heads would have advised the commissioner to bide her time and work behind the scenes with stakeholders, including government, to prepare the way for a more planned approach to changing public opinion.
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