Plan aims to restrict ‘over-policing’ of looked-after young people and ensure challenging behaviour is met with support rather than criminalisation
Vulnerable young people in care who assault staff or damage property will not automatically be arrested by police or charged, under proposals intended to reduce the excessive criminalisation of looked-after children.
A government review will examine how children in state care who exhibit challenging behaviour can be offered targeted support such as trauma counselling rather than being punished through the criminal justice system.
The aim is to restrict the “over-policing” of looked-after young people and reduce disproportionate numbers who offend while in care. Children in care are 10 times as likely to receive a caution or conviction than those not in care.
The review, expected to report in the spring, aims to tighten an existing protocol introduced by the previous government in 2018. The protocal said police should not be used for what it called “low-level behaviour management or matters a reasonable parent would not have called the police over”.
