Anger over numbers of jailed children

The UK’s record on locking up children has been slammed by the Howard League for Penal Reform after it looked at prison populations across Europe.

The England and Wales justice system is second only to the Ukraine in the number of children it imprisons, according to figures from human rights watchdog the Council of Europe.

Ukraine had 4,639 under-18s in prison in September 2004, compared with 2,742 in England and Wales and Turkey’s 2,672, the council’s survey of the prison populations of 36 European countries revealed.

Howard League director Frances Crook said: “We should be leading the way in Europe, but instead treat children as criminals when they should be treated as children.”