'adultification' Watchdog calls for of black children by police to end

The police watchdog for England and Wales has called for urgent measures to stop the "adultification" of black children by officers, but campaigners have said the revised guidelines do not go far enough.

- Aamna Mohdin

The Independent Office for Police Conduct identified adultification as a racial bias that primarily affects black children as well as other minority ethnic children, where they are seen as more "streetwise", more "grown up", less innocent and less vulnerable than their white peers.

In the guidelines issued this week, the IOPC said it was crucial officers understood how adultification could influence decision making leading to the "unjust treatment of children".

While campaigners have welcomed the IOPC's recognition of the detrimental impact of adultification on children, they have called for a "fundamental shift" in how children are treated by the police.