Child arrests fall by two thirds in a decade, study finds
Nina Jacobs
Monday, December 9, 2019
The number of children arrested by police forces in England and Wales has fallen by more than 70 per cent in eight years, latest figures show.
Data collected from Freedom of Information requests relating to more than 40 police forces showed 70,078 arrests of boys and girls aged 17 and under were made in 2018.
This marked a decrease from almost 250,000 arrests made in 2010, according to the Howard League for Penal Reform, which conducted the research.
Over the same period, the number of children in prison fell by 63 per cent, it added.
The research also highlighted a significant year-on-year reduction in the number of arrests of primary school-age children.
In 2018, there were 383 arrests of 10- and 11-year-olds, a drop of 38 per cent from the previous year.
The study found that the Metropolitan Police made 13,791 arrests of children in 2018, a 22 per cent reduction from 2017. Nearly a decade ago, figures for the Met were 70 per cent higher with more than 46,000 children arrested.
Other police forces that recorded significant reductions between 2017 and 2018 were Gwent (38 per cent), Bedfordshire (28 per cent), Cumbria (27 per cent), North Wales (24 per cent) and Kent (23 per cent).
The charity, which campaigns for change to the criminal justice system, said the overall downward trend had been sparked by the launch of its major campaign in 2010.
Academic research had shown each contact a child has with the criminal justice system increases their risk of getting involved in further crimes, it said.
This was a driving factor for its ongoing work with police forces across England and Wales to keep as many children out of the justice system in the first place, the charity added.
Howard League chief executive Frances Crook, said thousands of children could now look forward to a “brighter future” without their lives being blighted by police contact and a criminal record.
“Police forces up and down the country have diverted resources to tackling serious crime instead of arresting naughty children," she said. “This will make communities safer, and the Howard League is proud to have played its part.
“Building on this success and reducing the number of arrests still further would allow even more children to thrive.”
Despite most police forces recording a drop in the number of arrests, the charity said certain areas such as Hertfordshire and Suffolk had seen an increase in the number of children detained between 2017 and 2018.
It said it would be meeting with these police force areas to explore how the number of arrests could be reduced in future.
Two police forces - City of London and South Yorkshire - were unable to provide arrest figures for 2018 for the study, it added.
