Just over 1,800 children were arrested in Kent last year – down from 7,500-plus a decade ago.

New figures show that 1,813 people aged 17 and below were detained by police in the county in 2020.

But this is a huge drop from the 7,505 that were arrested in 2010.

The figures have been released today by the Howard League for Penal Reform campaign.

Since 2010, the Howard League has been working with police forces across England and Wales to reduce child arrests, to ensure young people do not have their lives "blighted" by a criminal record.

Data provided by police forces shows that nationwide arrests of children aged 17 and under were reduced by 13% last year – from 72,475 in 2019 to 63,272 in 2020.

This continues a positive trend seen throughout the decade since 2010, when 245,763 arrests were recorded.

"Kent 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."

Kent Police's child arrests have declined in recent years, falling from 2,683 in 2017 to 1,807 in 2019.

But the 2020 figure shows a small increase of six child arrests compared to the previous year.

The data shows Kent had the fourth-highest number of child arrests in 2019 of any of the 30 police forces recorded by the Howard League – behind just Greater Manchester, with 2,439 such arrests; Hampshire, with 3,283; and London's Metropolitan, which made 13,599.

Research has shown that each time a child has a brush with the law it drags them deeper into the criminal justice system, leading to more crime, which is why work has been done to keep as many boys and girls 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.

"Kent 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.”

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