Child arrests by South Yorkshire Police reduced by 79 per cent over last decade

Data provided by South Yorkshire Police has revealed that the force made 1,320 child arrests in 2020 compared with 1,465 the year before and 6,235 in 2010, a reduction of 79 per cent over the last decade.

Since 2010, the Howard League for Penal Reform campaign has been working with police forces across England and Wales to reduce child arrests, helping to ensure that hundreds of thousands of children do not have their lives blighted by a criminal record.

Academic research has shown that each contact a child has with the criminal justice system drags them deeper into it, leading to more crime, which is why the Howard League is working to keep as many young people as possible out of the system in the first place.

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.

“A decade of success for the Howard League’s programme to reduce child arrests has given hundreds of thousands of children a brighter future. South Yorkshire Police has made giant strides, diverting resources to tackling serious crime instead of arresting children unnecessarily, and this approach will help to make our communities safer.

“As we begin to emerge from the pandemic, and as police forces recruit thousands more officers, the challenge now is to build on this success and reduce arrests still further. Keeping up the momentum will enable even more children to thrive.”

The Howard League for Penal Reform is the oldest penal reform charity in the world, and works with police forces to decrease crime, make communities safer and reduce the number of people in prison.

In previous years, police forces across England have been asked to provide figures broken down by age, gender and ethnicity; a detailed analysis of this data will be published in a briefing later this year.