ARRESTS of children in North Wales have fallen by more than 80 per cent since 2010, new figures reveal.

North Wales Police made 536 arrests of children in 2019 compared to the 3,420 arrests recorded by the force back in 2010.

The Child arrests in England and Wales 2019 Report published by the Howard League on Monday showed that while 22 police forces in England and Wales, including North Wales Police, recorded increases in child arrests between 2018 and 2019, the number remains lower than in 2010.

A significant number of forces reported that the rise was believed to be, at least in part, related to operations to tackle county lines. Instead of being treated as victims, some children are being arrested because they are suspected of having committed crimes as a result of their exploitation by others. Addressing this problem will be a key challenge for forces over the next few years.

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

The data reveal continued inequalities for Black children and children from minority ethnic backgrounds. Government figures show that Black children are more than four times as likely as white children to be arrested. The proportion of white children arrested has fallen by 13 per cent over the last 10 years, while the proportion of Black children arrested has doubled to 16 per cent.

The disproportionate impact of the criminal justice system on Black children and children from minority ethnic backgrounds increases as they move through it, resulting in huge disparities in the numbers held on remand and serving sentences in child prisons.

The Howard League asked police forces to break down their child arrest figures by age, gender and ethnicity, and the ethnicity breakdown was revealing: data recording was inconsistent and there were huge gaps as a result of failure to record ethnicity for large numbers of children who had been arrested. In 2019, there was no record of ethnicity for more than 5,000 child arrests.

There has been a 71 per cent reduction nationwide in the number of arrests of children aged 17 and under – from 245,763 in 2010 to 71,885 in 2019. Every police force in Wales and England has achieved a reduction in arrests over this period, with all but three reducing their arrest rate by more than half.

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.

“The Howard League’s programme to reduce child arrests has shown what can be achieved by working together. Police forces have diverted resources to tackling serious crime instead of arresting children unnecessarily, and this means hundreds of thousands of boys and girls can look forward to a brighter future.

“After a successful decade spent embedding good practice across England and Wales, the challenge now is to keep up the momentum and reduce arrests still further. The Howard League will continue to support forces to make communities safer and allow more children to thrive.”