Misunderstood
“WE must condemn a little more and understand a little less,” John Major said in 1993 of Britain's most infamous young offenders, the two ten-year-old boys who killed the toddler James Bulger. Michael Howard, the home secretary, has since adopted a range of measures in tended to crack down on young criminals, from reducing the use of cautions to introducing military-style boot camps. Labour, eager to display its new authoritarian streak, followed suit with plans for “final” police warnings and local youth curfews.
This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Misunderstood”
From the March 8th 1997 edition
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