Children in Police Custody: Adversity and Adversariality Behind Closed Doors

Children in Police Custody shines a light on the hidden experiences of children in police detention in England and Wales. An episode in police custody is the single most common sustained experience of the criminal justice system for children. Yet child suspects have previously been largely overlooked in criminological research. Drawing on the first comprehensive study in England and Wales to review the police custody process from the perspective of children, the chapters trace the child’s journey from arrest, through detention and interview, to release or remand.

Adopting a rights-based approach, this work investigates whether the present legal framework provides effective protection for child suspects. Utilising the detailed insights provided by young participants in the research, and supplemented by the author’s fieldwork, this analysis reveals the complex challenges facing children’s legal agency in the adversarial setting of the custody block. In so doing, it evaluates the capacity of the available protections to enable children’s participation in that setting.

A parallel criminological exploration examines the intersecting adversities experienced by child suspects, and the complex power dynamics they navigate in police custody, to arrive at an understanding of the particular harms of police detention for children and their longer-term impact. The book closes with a call for a retrenchment in the use of police custody for children, and a reappraisal of how those who must be detained should be supported to enable their effective participation in the criminal justice process, both in custody and beyond.

Miranda Bevan, Lecturer in Law, Goldsmiths, University of London

Dr Miranda Bevan is a lecturer in law at Goldsmiths, University of London. Before joining Goldsmiths, she was an ESRC-funded Post-Doctoral Fellow at the London School of Economics, where she was awarded her PhD in 2019 and completed a MSc in Criminal Justice Policy in 2013. Called to the Bar in 2000 she practised as a criminal barrister until 2012 at the Chambers of Jonathan Laidlaw QC, 2 Hare Court. She spent two years at the Law Commission as the lawyer with responsibility for the Unfitness to Plead Project (Law Com No.364) and has also worked for the Howard League for Penal Reform.