Using boredom for diversion: Reducing the pains of children in police custody

• In Event: Juvenile Justice 1. Offender and Participant Prespectives

Abstract

Going into police custody is a rare moment where one’s phone, and easy access to the web, has been taken away. Consequently, it might also be a time when children are more conducive to positive messaging and suggestions for how to seek help to make better choices. This paper reports on an evaluation of a project to provide video-books to children coming into police custody. These cheap iPad-like tablets have no network functionality, and are pre-loaded with videos providing information on the custody process. In addition, they can contain other videos whose aim is to provide pathways to information that might encourage diversion from further offending. The content can be tailored to reflect the child’s characteristics (eg. race, gender, or age, as well as disclosed neurodiversity). The video-book is also provided at a time that has been identified as a reachable/teachable moment (Bevan 2022; Kemp and Watkins 2022; Skinns etal. 2023). Drawing on data from the project that included interviews and a survey of those who were given the video book, we propose something that many parents have known for some time: Giving children a tablet-computer reduces boredom, but, in this case, might also reduce further offender. At the same time, custody suites are spaces of conflict and resistance, in terms of both those taken into custody, and those charged with holding them. We outline some of the challenges of placing a form of technology usually associated with leisure-time into this site of resistance. We will discuss the implications of this innovation for police discretion and the pains of police custody, especially as they are felt by children.

Authors

• Craig Webber, The University of Southampton

• Mark Brown, The University of Southampton