THE number of children arrested by Gwent Police has fallen for the fourth consecutive year according to figures published by a penal reform charity.

Only 980 arrests of persons under the age of 17 were made in Gwent last year– a significant drop from 2,503 made in 2010.

This is the biggest single drop in child arrests – 609 from 2014 to 2013 – in Gwent from according to the information presented by the Howard League for Penal Reform.

“The Howard League has worked closely with police forces round the country to stem the flow of children being sucked into the criminal justice system,” said Frances Crook, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform.

“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.”

These figures, which take in the five year period from 2010-2014, suggest a decreasing trend across England and Wales, with less children in the criminal justice system.

The charity has worked with a number of police forces to help tackle the issue of child arrests, with forces on occasion reviewing their procedures.

“It is for parents and schools to deal with normal, childish, challenging behaviour, not the police,” added Ms Crook.

“It is to the credit of the police that they have introduced restorative approaches and given front line officers discretion to make professional decisions.”

Across England and Wales, the number of arrests for persons under 17 has halved between 2010 and 2014, falling from 245,763 in 2010 to 112,037 last year.

From those arrests in 2014, over four fifths of the offences were committed by boys (83 per cent), while girls making up the remaining 17 per cent.

The statistics for the number of child arrests in Gwent for 2015 will be released next year once the information is presented to the penal reform charity.