CONSERVATIVE
New Forest East

HOME AFFAIRS – VIOLENT VIDEOS - 13 March 2000

HOME AFFAIRS – VIOLENT VIDEOS - 13 March 2000

Dr Julian Lewis: Does the Home Secretary agree that it was hardly fair of the hon. Member for Birmingham, Erdington (Mr Corbett) – who, unfortunately, is no longer in his place – to refer to"a vendetta" by the press and the public against Myra Hindley? Surely what happens in these terrible cases is that even the popular press gets it right by reflecting the horror that the public feel when terrible murders are carried out, whether by adults or by children.

Does the Home Secretary also accept that there have been a number of cases of murders involving young people as perpetrators where the influence of violent films and videos has been directly traced, although not necessarily in this [James Bulger] case? Given those data, will he consider reviewing the admissibility of violent content in films and videos, which takes a great part of the responsibility for depraving the moral standards of young people where crime is concerned?