Coronavirus: Campaigners call for end to child arrests amid pandemic
Fiona Simpson
Friday, March 27, 2020
Children’s rights campaigners have called on the government to limit the number of children arrested and suspend overnight detention in police custody for young people during the coronavirus pandemic.
Charity Just for Kids Law, including the Children's Rights Alliance for England and the Youth Justice Legal Centre, has written an open letter to the government highlighting fears that arrests and overnight detention of vulnerable young people could leave them more susceptible to picking up the virus, also known as Covid-19.
Just for Kids Law chief executive Enver Solomon has asked the government to direct police forces to:
- Limit arrests and only pursue the most serious offences committed by children and young people
- Avoid placing any child or young person in police cells while Covid-19 risk levels remain high
- Suspend overnight detention of any child or young person in police custody
Solomon wrote: “Arrest should only be as an absolute last resort, in relation to only the most serious crimes and maintaining public order, in line with the government coronavirus action plan.
“Despite children seeming to be less at risk from the virus, the heightened chance of infection in busy and confined spaces, such as police stations, still poses a real danger to them, especially those with underlying health conditions, their families and wider communities.
“The risk brought about by this pandemic is disproportionate to the need to arrest and detain children and young people for minor offences.”
Latest figures from the Metropolitan Police provided to Just for Kids Law show that in 2019 a total of 7,038 children were detained in police custody overnight in London.
The charity recently launched legal action against Waltham Forest Council over the detention of a child in a cell overnight.
Across the UK schools are closed to all pupils except vulnerable children and those of key workers while people have been told by the government to stay at home except to buy essentials and to exercise once a day.
