In a landmark judgment, judges Lord Justice Moses and Mr Justice Kenneth Parker ruled that treating 17-year-olds at the police station in the same way as adults is unlawful.
Police are currently obliged to contact a parent or an “appropriate adult” to offer support and advice for young people in custody aged 16 or under.
But for 17-year-olds, the decision on whether to contact an adult is down to the discretion of the officer, unless the young person is deemed to be “vulnerable”.
In many cases parents are not told that their son or daughter has been arrested.
The judicial review, brought by Just for Kids Law, was based on the case of a 17-year-old who was held in a police station in London overnight for 12 hours on suspicion of robbery.
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