The Howard League for Penal Reform has published a briefing providing figures on the levels of criminalisation of children in residential care and police contact with children’s homes in England and Wales.
Data obtained through Freedom of Information requests to police forces show that: the proportion of children living in a children’s home, who have been formally criminalised (convicted or subject to a final warning or reprimand), has fallen from 15% to 10% between 2014 and 2018, with the greatest fall seen over the last year; children in residential care face disproportionate levels of criminalisation compared to other children, including those in other types of care placements.