Search: James Bulger killers
James Bulger's killers were not "intrinsically evil", Ed Balls has said, as he waded into the row over trying youngsters in adult courts.
The Schools Secretary said the Children's Commissioner's comments about the two-year-old's murder were "ill-advised".
At the weekend, Dr Maggie Atkinson described the killing as "exceptionally unpleasant", but said it was wrong that Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, who were 10 in 1993 when they were charged with the boy's murder, were tried in an adult court.
She called for the age of criminal responsibility to be raised to 12, and her comments were condemned by James's mother Denise Fergus as "twisted and insensitive".
Reacting on Monday, Mr Balls said he "disagreed" with Dr Atkinson's comments, but insisted she was independent of government and it was her job to stand up for children and young people.
Referring to Mrs Fergus as Mrs Bulger, Mr Balls said: "I thought it was ill advised, not just for Mrs Bulger but for many people, the scars of what was done to James Bulger are very deep."
He said there needs to be criminal proceedings in place for children. "In this case my sympathies are with Mrs Bulger, not the Children's Commissioner," he said.
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Mr Balls did say he agreed with Dr Atkinson about labelling children as "evil". "I think we have to be very careful about labelling any child as intrinsically evil. Children are very affected by what happens to them as they are growing up. I think what they did to James Bulger was evil, but I'm not willing to say the children were intrinsically evil."
Mr Balls' comments came after Baroness Butler-Sloss, the retired president of the High Court's family division, said the public would never accept 10-year-old murderers escaping punishment.
Speaking to The Times, Lady Butler-Sloss, who granted Venables and Robert Thompson new identities after their release from prison, said: "I do not believe the public will, at the moment, stand for murderers of 10 years old being treated as if they are children and not having to face punishment. The way I would like to go forward is to keep it as it is for the moment, because of public opinion, but to make it much more difficult to send such children to prison."
