AROUND 123 Kent children were arrested each week last year, a new report has found.

The research shows officers arrested 6,409 boys and girls aged 17 and under during 2011.

These figures however confirm a decline of 36 per cent since 2008, when 10,157 Kent children were arrested.

Police arrested more than 209,000 boys and girls across England and Wales in 2011, including 2,117 aged 10 or 11.

This means six primary school children were arrested every day, on average, last year.

Girls accounted for about a fifth of these statistics.

The charity which conducted the survey, Howard League for Penal Reform, campaigns to bring child arrests down.

Chief Executive, Frances Crook, said: “Children who get into trouble are more often than not just being challenging teenagers.

“How we respond to this nuisance behaviour could make a difference for the rest of their lives.

“An arrest can blight a life and lead to a criminal record for just being naughty. The positive change in policing children will release resources to deal with real crimes.”

 

Child arrest figures for Kent:

2008: 10,157

2009: 10,089

2010: 7,505

2011: 6,409