A DRAMATIC drop in the number of child arrests — of around 70 per cent over four years across Lancashire — has been praised by penal reformers.

Back in 2010, just under 9,780 young people were detained by Lancashire Police, according to figures obtained by the Howard League.

MORE TOP STORIES:

But with hundreds of young offenders now being diverted through “restorative justice” channels, rather than making a youth court appearance, that had dropped to 2,887.

Frances Crook, the Howard League’s chief executive, said: “We have worked closely with police forces round the country to stem the flow of children being sucked into the criminal justice system.

“The fantastic success of our programme of work and the police improvement to their practices means that thousands of children have not had their life chances blighted.”

“It is for parents and schools to deal with normal childish challenging behaviour, not the police. It is to the credit of the police that they have introduced restorative approaches and given front-line officers discretion to make professional decisions.”

The Lancashire experience has been echoed in the national picture, with 245,763 arrests made in 2010 and only 112,037 during 2014.

“The number of children being held in prison has likewise dropped by 56 per cent over the period.

Several police services across the United Kingdom have now reviewed their arrest procedures and policies as a direct result of the Howard League’s engagement with them over the issue of child arrests.

The police and prosecutors also have a number of different methods of dealing with young offenders at their disposal since changes were introduced over the past four years.

Those measures include youth cautions and youth conditional cautions.

This still involves, if the police believe there is sufficient evidence to charge the youngster, an admission of guilt on his or her behalf.

These can be handed out by the police or Crown Prosecution Service for any indictable offence, and are no longer only given to youths with no previous criminal convictions.

Reprimands and warnings for young offenders were abolished nationally in April 2013.