Child arrests down 72 per cent in West Midlands

New figures have revealed that since a major campaign to keep boys and girls out of criminal justice systems began, the number of arrests in the region have dropped from 14,387 in 2010 to 3,960 in 2019.

The Howard League has been working with police forces across England and Wales to reduce arrests of children.

The charity’s latest research briefing, Child arrests in England and Wales 2019, published today, shows that there has been a 71 per cent reduction nationwide in the number of arrests of children aged 17 and under – from 245,763 in 2010 to 71,885 in 2019.

Frances Crook, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “Every child deserves the chance to grow and fulfil their potential, and we must do all we can to ensure that they are not held back by a criminal record.

“The Howard League’s programme to reduce child arrests has shown what can be achieved by working together.

"Police forces have diverted resources to tackling serious crime instead of arresting children unnecessarily, and this means hundreds of thousands of boys and girls can look forward to a brighter future.

“After a successful decade spent embedding good practice across England and Wales, the challenge now is to keep up the momentum and reduce arrests still further. The Howard League will continue to support forces to make communities safer and allow more children to thrive.”

Now the Howard League is encouraging police forces to build on this success and focus on areas where even more could be done to prevent children being arrested unnecessarily – particularly black children and children from minority ethnic backgrounds, victims of child criminal exploitation, and children living in residential care.

The data reveal continued inequalities for Black children and children from minority ethnic backgrounds.

Government figures show that Black children are more than four times as likely as white children to be arrested.

The proportion of white children arrested has fallen by 13 per cent over the last 10 years, while the proportion of Black children arrested has doubled to 16 per cent.

Although 22 police forces recorded increases in child arrests between 2018 and 2019, their numbers were much lower than when the Howard League’s campaign began in 2010. The charity has encouraged forces to analyse their data and investigate how arrests could be reduced in future.

A significant number of forces reported that the rise was believed to be, at least in part, related to operations to tackle county lines.