Children and Young People in Police Custody: Building understanding and motivating change through children's perspectives.

这个博士后奖学金的目的是使我能够最大限度地发挥我的博士研究对被警察拘留的儿童和年轻人的经历的影响。警察的逮捕和拘留是绝大多数年轻人与刑事司法系统的唯一实质性接触。我的博士研究是第一个对英格兰和威尔士的儿童和年轻人的警察拘留过程作为一个整体如何运作的实证研究，也是第一个与大量儿童和年轻人一起探索他们经历拘留过程的经历，从被捕到释放。年轻嫌疑人被警方拘留的经历令人深感不安。许多年轻的研究参与者都在努力应对拘留经历，这种经历是惩罚性的，不必要的漫长，而且对他们的年轻进行了很少的调整。他们的描述主要是不确定感、无助感和想要“离开”牢房的绝望感。在整个过程中应该支持他们的保护措施往往没有得到实施，或者没有有效地发挥作用。该研究特别指出了年轻人在获取法律咨询方面面临的挑战，以及“合适的成年人”所能提供的支持的真正问题限制。年轻参与者的反思，结合其他实地工作，引起了人们对儿童在拘留期间作出重大决定的能力和有效参与警方面谈的能力的真正关注。调查结果对拘留年轻嫌疑人过程的公正性和证据的可靠性提出了质疑。从更理论化的角度来看，该研究提出了一些根本性的问题，即在警察局的敌对环境中，如何确保对弱势嫌疑人的有效保护。我的研究具有重要的概念和工具影响范围。我的目标是利用博士后奖学金将研究成果发表学术论文。特别是，我计划根据我的论文发表两篇期刊文章，并召开一次研讨会，将警察、从业人员、政策制定者和学者聚集在一起，考虑有效参与警察拘留和后来的青年司法程序。这些活动将为我的博士研究专著《几乎看不见：被警察拘留的儿童和年轻人》的撰写提供参考。我希望在奖学金结束时完成专著的初稿。在过去四年中，我一直努力创造和最大限度地扩大机会，以改变人们对警察拘留儿童和青少年经历的理解，并影响政策和做法的变化。我与监管过程中涉及的各种行为者进行了接触——警察机构、独立监管探访者、适当成人团体、青少年犯罪服务机构、法律从业人员和中介机构，以及司法部和内政部的政策制定者。奖学金也将使我能够继续这项工作。

The aim of this post-doctoral fellowship is to enable me to maximise the impact of my doctoral research into the experiences of children and young people when detained in police custody. Arrest and detention by the police is the only substantial contact with the criminal justice system that the vast majority of young people have. My doctoral research is the first empirical consideration of how the police custody process functions as a whole for children and young people in England and Wales, and the first to explore with a substantial group of children and young people their experiences as they underwent the custody process, from arrest to release. The picture which emerges of young suspects' experiences in police custody is deeply troubling. Many young research participants struggled to cope with a detention experience which was punitive, unnecessarily lengthy and very minimally adjusted to account for their youth. Their accounts are dominated by feelings of uncertainty, helplessness and desperation to "get out" of the cell. The protections which should be in place to support them through the process are often not implemented, or function ineffectively. In particular the research identifies the challenges for young people in accessing legal advice, and the really problematic limitations on the support that can be provided by an 'appropriate adult'. Young participants' reflections, combined with the other fieldwork, raise real concerns about children's abilities to make the significant decisions required of them in custody and to participate effectively in police interview. The findings call into question the fairness of the custody process for young suspects and the reliability of the evidence produced. From a more theoretical perspective, the research raises fundamental questions about the ability to ensure effective protections for vulnerable suspects in the adversarial setting of the police station.My research has significant scope for conceptual and instrumental impact. I aim to use the post-doctoral fellowship to produce academic publications from the research. In particular I plan to produce two journal articles from my thesis and to convene a symposium bringing together police, practitioners, policy-makers and academics to consider effective participation in police custody and later youth justice processes. These activities will feed into work to produce a monograph from my doctoral research: "All but invisible: children and young people in police custody". I hope to complete a first draft of the monograph by the conclusion of the fellowship.I have throughout the last four years worked to create and maximise opportunities to shift understanding about the police custody experience for children and young people and to influence changes in policy and practice. I have engaged with a wide range of actors involved in the custody process - police bodies, Independent Custody Visitors, Appropriate Adult groups, Youth Offending Services, legal practitioners and intermediaries, as well as policy-makers within the Ministry of Justice and Home Office. The fellowship will also enable me to continue that work.