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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Kersley

Hundreds of children under 10 subject to stop and search in England and Wales

Police search the pockets of a man
Police officers conduct a stop and search in London. New figures show the number of searches on children under 10 has significantly increased since 2014. Photograph: Carl Court/Getty Images

Hundreds of children under 10 faced stop and search by police last year, including some who were strip-searched, the Observer can reveal.

At least 432 children under the age of criminal responsibility were searched by the police forces in England and Wales in 2023, according to data.police.uk, an official site for open data on crime and policing.

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