LONDON

Black children detained by police in London are 15% more likely than white children to be charged and enter the criminal justice system for similar offences, a new study has found.

The study by the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF) and conducted in partnership with the Behavioral Insights Team and the Metropolitan Police, analyzed data spanning seven years and involving nearly 265,000 children and young people who came into contact with the police in London between 2015 and 2022.

Diversion – an alternative to formal criminal justice proceedings for children who have committed minor or first-time offences, or who are at low risk of reoffending – has been shown to reduce the likelihood of future offending.

The YEF’s new analysis reinforces that evidence, showing that the rate of reoffending within six months is nearly halved for diverted children (from 8.2% to 4.5%).

For children involved in violent offending, reoffending dropped by 59.8%, and for those involved in knife crime, the reduction was 70%.

“These results do not demonstrate conclusively that being diverted causes a reduction in reoffending,” the report cautioned, “but this nonetheless adds to the growing body of evidence about the likely effectiveness of diversion as a way of preventing violence.”

Despite the promising findings, the report paints a troubling picture of how diversion is applied in practice. It highlights that outcomes can differ sharply based on where a child lives, their prior contact with police – and their race.

Black children were found to have significantly higher rates of police contact than their peers, making up 44.3% of cases despite representing just 24.7% of the local population over the study period.

Once involved with police, Black children were also 14.8% less likely to be diverted than White children – even after controlling for offence type, severity, and arrest history.

While 59.5% of White children who came into contact with police were diverted, only 50.7% of Black children were given the same opportunity.

Dr Stevie-Jade Hardy, assistant director – Policing and Youth Justice at YEF, said: “When done well and in the appropriate circumstance, diverting children away from the criminal justice system can reduce reoffending. But huge variations in the way it is implemented mean not every young person is given the opportunity to benefit from this approach. We need to ensure it is delivered effectively, consistently and equitably to protect children from violence.”