Letter: The death of James Bulger; imprisonment of young offenders; causes of criminality

Mr T. M. Dodd
Friday 19 February 1993 00:02 GMT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Sir: In your leading article 'A child's murder' (16 February), in which you refer to the awful murder of young James Bulger, you conclude:

At least one good thing may come out of the grim work now being done by Merseyside Police: people are likely to be less hesitant when they see a child wandering alone.

The intimation that people are going to take hold of a child's hand and take him or her off to look for a policeman is naive to say the least. I am 50 years old, a civil servant, and I like to think that I am respected within my community, but one thing I wouldn't be over-anxious to do in a crowded shopping centre would be to grasp hold of a 'lost child' with the intention of going anywhere. Three days ago, well that's a different matter.

Yours sincerely,

T. M. DODD

Northallerton, North Yorkshire

16 February

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in