Centre for Mental Health

Centre for Mental Health supports Howard League call to end overnight police custody for children under 14

13 December 2011

“Children should not be kept in police custody overnight without their health and welfare needs being dealt with as a matter of urgency,” Centre for Mental Health chief executive Sean Duggan said today.

Responding to a call from the Howard League for Penal Reform to stop the overnight detention of children under 14, Sean Duggan said: “The Howard League has highlighted a hidden trend and a major cause for concern. Too often offending and bad behaviour among children masks underlying poor mental health, communication difficulties or learning disabilities. If these needs are not identified quickly, they too easily slip under the radar until they surface later as more costly  health crises undermining later life chances.

“We are also very concerned that one in five of the 53,000 children aged under 16 who were detained overnight were girls and the same proportion were from black and minority ethnic communities. We know from research that young women who offend have some of the highest mental health needs, have high levels of trauma in their backgrounds and the highest welfare needs. And we know that black people are over-represented both in the prison population and in mental health hospitals yet less likely to get help for the mental health from their GPs.

“There is a need for Police Authorities to make better use of legislation to strengthen attention to children’s welfare. This must be supported through local authorities, youth offending teams and health services working closely with the police to support clearly defined pathways to safer overnight accommodation. The police should make better and more assertive use of bail powers, of Duty Social Work or of Emergency CAMHS teams to support improved pathways to places of safety.  They can also link closely with the Youth Justice Liaison and Diversion teams that are working in some areas to improve the  focus on the health and wellbeing of children in custody suites at the point of arrest. 

“At present, the lack of antennae for children’s safeguarding and psychological vulnerability, a paucity of thorough early assessment and poor continuity of care for vulnerable children and young people after release from police custody threatens to undermine their life chances and safeguarding needs as well as compromising the welfare of local communities. We must all heed the Howard League’s call to make the overnight use of custody for young children a thing of the past.”

Read the Howard League's report on the overnight detention of children in police cells online here