Yasmin Begum and Saqib Deshmukh explore the issue of racial injustice in child strip searches and what it says about our justice system.
A deeply concerning issue is currently impacting some of the most vulnerable members in Welsh society: the practice of child strip search. While the TV shows Adolescence and Eastenders have brought the topic of child strip search back into the mainstream, a scattered landscape is emerging around it in England and Wales.
Wales is a nation that prides itself on its open-mindedness and on valuing fairness. There are initiatives in Wales that don’t exist in other parts of the United Kingdom, like the Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan, the Well-being of Future Generations Act and the Nation of Sanctuary Plan. We were even the first country in the UK to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Despite our status as a progressive nation, a deep chasm around policing, anti-racism and devolution is emerging between Cardiff Bay and Westminster.
5 years ago, a Black teenager named Child Q was accused of being in possession of cannabis at her school in Hackney. She was subject to a full strip search without the presence of an appropriate adult – and, degradingly, while on her period.
[…]75 percent of forces rejected our requests for information on ethnicity and child strip search, although forces are legally bound to record this data whenever a strip search takes place.
A few years later, in 2022, a report was released by the Metropolitan Police that found that racism was likely to be a factor in the decision to undertake a strip search. 2022 was a landmark year for child strip search – Child Q’s case was published, and it spurred a string of demonstrations and policy reports. The Strip search of children in England and Wales report was published by Rachel de Souza, the Children’s Commissioner of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and it found that Black children were up to 6 times more likely to be strip searched than their white peers. Except, the report didn’t give a breakdown for racial inequality in Wales, and 25% of Welsh forces didn’t submit information to Rachel de Souza.
Over the course of two years, Insaafi CIC submitted dozens of FOI requests to numerous authorities to try and understand the practice of child strip search in Wales. None of the information was readily available in the public domain, despite what happened to Child Q in London just a few years ago. The requests spanned information on child strip search, correspondence on the topic, and commissioned reports. Nonetheless, 75 percent of forces rejected our requests for information on ethnicity and child strip search, although forces are legally bound to record this data whenever a strip search takes place. Troublingly, nearly all of the data we obtained on child strip search from Welsh forces contradicted the data published by Rachel de Souza.
We have been working with Dr Rhian Chamberlain from the Children’s Legal Centre at Swansea University to understand the full picture on child strip search in Wales. Through our work together over the past 2 years, we have co-authored a briefing with Dr Chamberlain, Strip searching of children in the Welsh context. We have found that South Wales Police (home to over 50 percent of Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic children) admits racial and ethnic disproportionality to the Children’s Commissioner of Wales while the force refused to publish any data on race and child strip search in the public domain. By law, police forces need to record and collate this information. A pattern has begun to emerge in Wales around data monitoring, collation and transparency within Welsh police forces. We’re not sure if it’s a failure to achieve basic professional standards of transparency, an act of obfuscation, or a failure to share clear data to avoid legal challenge.
Wales has its own unique devolved landscape – one that can often be hard to understand for outsiders. A core part of the agreement between Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Labour government (as laid out in the now ended Cooperation Agreement) is to pursue the implementation of the Thomas Commission. The Thomas Commission advocates for the devolution of the criminal justice system to Wales. Wales already has the highest imprisonment rate in Western Europe, and non-white offenders are more likely to be jailed in Wales rather than England. Jo Stevens, the Secretary of State for Wales, confirmed last year that the devolution of crime, justice, and policing isn’t at the top of Keir Starmer’s agenda.
A pattern has begun to emerge in Wales around data monitoring, collation and transparency within Welsh police forces.
The death of George Floyd and the re-emergence of the Black Lives Matter Movement in 2020 changed the policy landscape in the United Kingdom. Despite huge changes in policy, the trickle down for anti-racism is much, much slower in Wales. 13-year-old Christopher Kapessa is thought to have died after being pushed off a bridge. Despite, allegedly, there being enough evidence for a manslaughter prosecution, CPS ruled that it wouldn’t be in the public interest to prosecute. The Kapessa family later filed a complaint with South Wales Police, citing that the police had mismanaged the case because of racism. Mohamud Mohammad Hassan died following police contact in 2021 in Cardiff, and a few weeks later, Mouayed Bashir died in Newport while in police custody. In 2023, riots broke out in the west Cardiff suburb of Ely when Kyrees and Harvey – both 16 – passed away after an interaction with South Wales Police. Dozens of policy pieces on anti-racism in Wales mention George Floyd, but you’d struggle to find discussions of Mohamud, Mouayed, Kyrees, Harvey or Christopher in Welsh policy. The usual line is: “Criminal justice and policing is not devolved to Wales,” creating a jagged edge around anti-racism and children’s rights in a Welsh context.
5 years on from Child Q, we don’t have an accurate data picture for child strip search across Wales. We don’t even have a breakdown of how many children were subject to searches that required the exposure of their genitals. In our briefing, we explain that “immediate action is needed from Welsh authorities to protect children’s rights and explore non-invasive alternatives.” These include investing in alternative technologies to reduce the need for strip searches, improving data collection, and implementing a child-centred and children’s rights approach to policing and youth justice.
Syniadau uchelgeisiol, awdurdodol a mentrus.
Ymunwch â ni i gyfrannu at wneud Cymru gwell.
Wales is at a crossroads. The Welsh government wants to support work on anti-racism, but it’s being stonewalled by a lack of devolution of the criminal justice system. We can’t tell if racial inequality in child strip search and other issues, like strip search, is present if Welsh police forces cannot be open with their data. Forces across England have lowered the rates of children being strip searched, but Welsh forces can’t say the same. We need real accountability and transparency from Welsh police forces on child strip search: we can’t sit by and wait for a Child Q case in Wales.
About Insaafi
Insaafi’s aim is to develop creative solutions to issues of discrimination and injustice and address the lack of understanding about shared histories and hidden narratives, through creative project management and consultancy services that include research, mapping, training, and archival work. Our activities consist of meetings, training sessions and events such as conferences and plays.
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