Coroners and Justice Bill

Some of us believe in original sin and others do not. Perhaps the Daily Mail is going back to the original sin hypothesis. I am aware that in expressing my views on the amendment I was not hoping that we would obtain a reversal in the legislation; I admit that. I noticed that those who appeared to speak in its support were not speaking for the amendment. With friends like that, who needs enemies? I am grateful for their apparent support for this amendment. Nevertheless, I wanted to highlight that we hark back to the Bulger case. Such cases have caused deep concern, although I recognise that it has been said that the system has managed to take care of those young men. Nevertheless, the procedures that they went through were troubling and led to a tightening of the way in which young children were viewed by the courts in law at any rate, even if the reality has been somewhat different. I hope that our debates before the adjournment will come back strongly, because we have not reached the bottom of how we address this point. I would much prefer it if, on Report, we thought clearly about developmental immaturity in relation to children, because there seems to be enormous support around that issue. This amendment does not seem to be the one to have made it there, so I beg leave to withdraw it. Amendment 161 withdrawn. Amendment 162 not moved.