North Yorkshire Police arrests children 124 times a week – and Howard League research finds the number is rising

See North Yorkshire Police – errors made in counting the juvenile arrest statistics as the information in this is now incorrect.

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North Yorkshire Police arrested children 124 times a week on average last year, figures obtained by the Howard League for Penal Reform reveal today.

New research by the charity shows officers made 6,452 arrests of boys and girls aged 17 and under during 2011.

North Yorkshire Police was the only police service in England and Wales to record an increase in child arrests between 2008 and 2011. It made 6,240 arrests in 2008.

Child arrest figures for North Yorkshire:

• 2008 – 6,240
• 2009 – 5,269
• 2010 – 4,566
• 2011 – 6,452

Across England and Wales, police made more than 209,000 arrests of boys and girls aged 17 and under last year. This number includes 2,117 arrests of children who were aged 10 or 11, meaning that on average six primary school children were arrested every day.

More than one million child arrests have been made in England and Wales since 2008, but the figures show a downward trend. The number of arrests nationwide fell by a third between 2008 and 2011.

Girls account for about a fifth of arrests each year, 207,808 between 2008 and 2011. However, 24,055 fewer girls were arrested in 2011 than in 2008 – a welcome fall of 38 per cent.

Frances Crook, Chief Executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said:

It is regrettable that the number of children arrested by North Yorkshire Police is rising, when we have seen a downward trend across the rest of England and Wales.

Children who get into trouble are more often than not just being challenging teenagers and how we respond to this nuisance behaviour could make a difference for the rest of their lives. An arrest can blight a life and lead to a criminal record for just being naughty. The positive change in policing children will release resources to deal with real crimes.

Only a handful of children are involved in more serious incidents and they usually suffer from neglect, abuse or mental health issues. A commitment to public safety means treating them as vulnerable children and making sure they get the help they need to mature into law-abiding citizens.

Under the last government, police success was measured by the number of arrests and children proved a seductive way to make up the numbers. The fact that the number of child arrests across England and Wales has fallen by a third since 2008 is a testament to a change of culture, more focused on public safety than targets.

The Howard League for Penal Reform has been campaigning for a reduction in child arrests. The campaign’s success and the way forward will be discussed at the charity’s Policing and Children Conference in Birmingham on Thursday 6 December 2012.

Police and Crime Commissioner for North Yorkshire, Julia Mulligan commented:

The figures revealed by the Howard League this week certainly warrant further investigation. I have therefore asked Tim Madgwick the acting Chief Constable to investigate the facts behind the figures and to produce a report for me this week.

I will be looking for any changes in policy or practice that may have caused the increase in juvenile arrests in 2011, following a period of falling numbers in line with the rest of the UK. I will also be asking partners such as the Youth Justice Service for their views to help find out why this happened in 2011, as well as the situation at the moment.

However, we must bear in mind that victims are involved. It is unacceptable for people, especially elderly and vulnerable people, to be subject to on-going campaigns of anti-social behaviour that sometimes leave them afraid to set foot outside their own homes.

We have seen the tragic consequences of this in other parts of the country. Therefore a balance is needed. On the one hand we need to deal compassionately with young people, taking steps to avoid unnecessary criminalisation whilst on the other, we do have to ensure that those who need to be dealt with robustly are done so.

I am also pleased to see a steady increase in the use of restorative justice techniques with young people in particular. This is used to avoid the unnecessary criminalisation of children and to intervene early before matters escalate into more serious offences.

I believe there is scope for greater use of early interventions and restorative justice and will be pursuing this vigorously over the coming months.

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