Children in Police Custody

Our key call for change:

• End the practice of detaining children in police custody

Background information and introduction to our work

Children who come into contact with the criminal justice system are some of the most vulnerable children in society and often have complex needs. They may be:

• care-experienced children,
• have additional learning needs,
• or be neurodivergent,
• have experienced trauma,
• neglect or abuse.

Children from deprived backgrounds and also children from ethnic minority backgrounds are also overrepresented in the youth justice system.

There has been an overall decrease in the number of first-time entrants into the youth justice system over the last decade, but this year, the number of first-time entrants has unfortunately increased. There must be a holistic children’s rights approach, early intervention and prevention measures, working across departments and agencies to prevent children entering police custody, with sufficient investment in human and financial resources.

Children have reported that spending time in a police cell, is a frightening and an intimidating experience. Police custody facilities are designed to detain adults suspected of criminal activity. They are not designed to be child friendly, or to offer comfort or emotional reassurance to children who are deprived of their family support. Any time spent in such an environment can be harmful and traumatic to children. CLCW believes that resources must be ringfenced to establish places of safety that are child-friendly & can accommodate children in crisis.

There is already in law, the duty to keep children out of police custody overnight. There should be adequate funding for secure accommodation to enable local authorities and the police to meet their duties under both section 38(6) of PACE and Section 77 Social Services and Well-Being Act 2014. There is also All Wales Guidance for the Management and transfer of children by the Police and Local Authorities.

The fact that this duty is consistently breached, means that a model to ensure that this does not happen should be developed and given sufficient investment. Local authorities, the Police and Welsh Government and Wales Youth Justice Advisory Panel, must sign up to a clear timebound commitment regarding how they will reduce the number of children who are in police custody each year, working towards ending the practice.