Children should not be detained in custody unless arrested for a serious crime and strip-searched only under truly exceptional circumstances, two parliamentary reports have said.
Harrowing testimonies of children in England and Wales who were strip-searched and who accused police of racism and making damaging, disrespectful comments are included in the research for the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on children in police custody.
The reports – the culmination of a year’s research involving children, police forces and parents – were released days after the sacking of two Metropolitan police officers who were involved in the strip-search of a schoolgirl who become known as Child Q.
While a police misconduct hearing found that racism was not a factor in that incident, the research gives voice to young people who said that racism was a factor in their strip-searches.
Children as young as 10 in England and Wales are currently subject to the same processes and have essentially the same protections as adults when they are detained in police custody.
Instead, the MPs on the group say that police detention should be the last resort for a child and that any initial detention period should be limited to 12 hours – half of the time that adults can be held before they must be charged or released.
Dr Miranda Bevan, a law lecturer at King’s College London who led an inquiry for the APPG, said that children who were detained were disproportionately likely to have special educational or communication needs, to have been exploited or suffered victimisation, and to have been known to mental health authorities.
“Yet these children – some as young as 10 – are being left alone in a police cell, with very limited adult support, for up to 24 hours,” she said. “They are expected to decide whether or not they want to accept legal representation; a decision that they should not be asked to make in those circumstances.
“We must reshape police custody into a space that recognises and responds to the unique needs of children. Reform must be rooted in evidence, and that evidence starts with listening to children and examining their experiences.”
The APPG puts forward 10 recommendations, including a ban on strip-searching children unless under truly exceptional circumstances and making it a requirement that legal advice be provided for all children detained in police custody.
Evidence was taken from police forces volunteers and experts in the field while first-hand accounts were given to the APPG by 10 children who had been strip-searched. “They took all my clothes off me … They didn’t give me a chance to suggest anything else they could do instead,” said one.
Making an allegation about a cavity search, they said: “She didn’t say nothing about it. I just felt it. I know that’s not meant to happen … There wasn’t no appropriate adult. I had to wait til the next day to have one. While this was happening, I was saying bad words. They charged me for that.
“I get flashbacks of it for sure … My dignity has just been taken.”
Another whose testimony was cited, and who said that there had been a racist dimension to their treatment, said: “I felt a hatred. I actually was very angry because I felt like I could do nothing about it … Racial slurs or whatever else I’ve been called when I’ve been grabbed in searches and whatever else.
“I’ve been called a ‘spear chucking N-word’ and I’ve been called the Middle Eastern racial slur for Pakistanis.”
Alex Carlile, a barrister and officer of the APPG, said: “Children are not miniature adults – they are vulnerable, developing individuals who must be treated as such when they come into contact with the criminal justice system.”
