1 Million Children Detained
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More than 1 million children are detained through justice systems worldwide at any one time, although this is likely to be a significant underestimate given the difficulties in obtaining data about the many unreported children in custody. Not only are data collected inconsistently, they often do not include children awaiting trial, young children detained with their parents or children held temporarily by the police. Among 44 countries for which data were available, around 59 per cent of children in detention had not been sentenced. The vast majority of children in detention have not committed serious offenses. Many are only charged with status offenses, such as running away from home, violation of child-related curfews, truancy or alcohol use.