Rachel de Souza, the children's commissioner for England, stated in her latest research that racial bias continues to influence police practices despite some progress. Black children were almost five times as likely to have force used during a search than white children, and were more likely to have their 'size, gender or build' cited as justification for force. From July 2023 to June 2024, police forces in England and Wales conducted 362 strip-searches of children under 18.
Strip-searches of children are usually used because of suspicion of drugs possession, but nearly half of all searches result in no further action. Some strip-searches of children are still being carried out in public view and with no appropriate adult present. Three in 10 strip-searches involved children who had already been searched at least once before.
My latest research presents an uncomfortable truth. Despite some promising green shoots of progress as overall searches of children have fallen since 2020, racial bias continues to influence practice drive numbers – and the strip-searching of children is far from being eliminated.
Racial disparities extend beyond strip-searches to general stop and search practices in London. Black people face a disproportionately higher risk of being stopped and searched by police in affluent areas of London, being up to 48 times more likely than white people in some wards. 4 times more likely than their white counterparts to be stopped and searched by officers in February this year.
The stated reasons for stop and searches were often less specific when applied to Black individuals. 4% lead to an arrest. In 2025, Metropolitan Police officers carried out 149,299 searches, with 19,054 for weapons, and found 3,748 weapons total.
Black children are consistently more likely than their peers to be strip-searched by police. And while this disparity had started to narrow in my last report, the trend appears to be reversing.