By IANS,
London : More than 2,000 primary school children were arrested by British police last year — an average of six a day, figures obtained under the Freedom of Information act have shockingly revealed.
There were 2,117 ten and 11-year-olds held in 2011. They were among a total of 209,450 under-18s detained by police that year – around a fifth of which were girls, The Sun reported.
The figures could be known from Freedom of Information requests to 43 police forces by the charity Howard League for Penal Reform.
The under-18s total, however, has declined by a third over the 2008 arrest figure of 315,923. Ten forces saw arrests halved in the past three years. Only North Yorkshire reported an increase.
It is thought that most arrests were for public order offences. The Howard League has campaigned to reduce arrest numbers, fearing it could lead to a criminal record for “being naughty”.