Dictionary.com defines a mollycoddle as a noun meaning: “a man or boy who is used to being coddled; a milksop.” Alternatively it can also be a verb used with an object, thereby meaning, “to coddle; pamper.” The World English Dictionary further states, “to treat with indulgent care…”
“Patrick Mercer, the Tory MP and former Army officer, hit out and told the Telegraph that tougher policing should be used in mainland Britain for the first time.
He said: ‘I find it strange that we are willing to use these sort of measures against the Irish yet when Englishmen step out of line and behave in this atrocious and appalling way, we are happy to mollycoddle them.'”
Random Misanthrope 
Interesting because I sort of consider millycoddling as “pulling ones punches”, euphemistically speaking, and Mr.Mercer is certainly not pulling his punches, and rightly so. He has a very good point.
is mollycockery a word? If not I just invented it.
Haha, love it! I can see someone in authority, a cop or judge or something, barging into a room of socialworkers who are mollycoddling young criminals:
“HEY HO! WHAT SORT OF MOLLYCOCKERY IS THIS THEN, EH?!?!??!?!”
LOL, isn’t it funny how we don’t even know what mollycockery means, yet we can use it in constructive sentences? ROFL. “Boys, I’m tired of your mollycockery! Either you sit down and behave or I will stop this car right now! I’m not kidding.”
Mollycockery: a word similar in meaning to “tomfoolery” and which should be a word in the English language.
I say we write to Oxford University Press forthwith.