THE NUMBER of children arrested in Surrey and Hampshire has increased in the past year – but a campaign to keep minors out of the criminal justice system is having a lasting impact, according to research published by the Howard League for Penal Reform on Monday.

Surrey Police made 751 arrests of boys and girls aged 17 and under in 2018. This is a slight rise on the previous year, but significantly lower than the 1,955 recorded in 2010, when the Howard League launched its campaign to reduce child arrests nationwide.

Across the border, police in Hampshire recorded 4,044 arrests of children in 2018, up from 3,960 in 2017 – but did not provide comparable data for the years before 2017.

Academic research has shown 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 started working with police forces across England and Wales to keep as many children as possible out of the system in the first place.

The figures for Surrey are broadly in line with the national trend. Data from more than 40 police forces show they made 70,078 arrests of children in 2018 – a reduction of more than 70 per cent from almost 250,000 in 2010.

Across England and Wales, the total number of child arrests has been reduced every year since the campaign began. Over the same period, the number of children has been reduced by 63 per cent.

Arrests of primary school-age children have been reduced significantly. There were 383 arrests of ten and 11-year-olds in 2018, 38 per cent down from the previous year.

Frances Crook, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “Tens of thousands of children can look forward to a brighter future without their lives being blighted by police contact and a criminal record.

“Surrey Police and other forces up and down the country have diverted resources to tackling serious crime instead of arresting naughty children.

“Building on this success and reducing the number of arrests still further would allow even more children to thrive.”

Where police forces recorded an increase in arrests between 2017 and 2018, the Howard League hopes to meet with them to explore how the number of arrests can be reduced in future.