Hundreds of primary school children have been investigated by police for sexting in less than three years, including pupils as young as four.
Figures from 27 police forces in England and Wales revealed more than 6,000 under 14s were investigated for sending indecent messages, including 306 children younger than ten.
Sharing an indecent image of anyone who is underage is illegal in England and Wales, even if a child takes a picture of themselves and shares it consensually.
Between January 2017 and August 2019, there were 6,499 cases of children aged under 14 who were investigated for sending naked photos of themselves or other minors to their peers.
One nine-year-old girl was noted as an ‘offender’ for sharing indecent photos on Instagram, according to data seen by The Guardian, while a nine-year-old boy was put on a police database for sharing a naked selfie on Facebook’s private messaging service.
The figures revealed a steep rise in the number of investigations, from 183 per month in 2017 to 241 per month this year.
There were 17 six-year-olds, nine five-year-olds and four children aged just four investigated, despite the age of criminal responsibility being ten years old.
Of the 6,499 investigations, just 30 led to a child being charged, cautioned or summoned to court.
Most probes were dropped as police decided there was no public interest in taking further action, which usually indicates officers believe the sexting was consensual and not coerced.
Guidance was introduced in 2016 to allow police to shut down investigations in which it appears there is no abuse or exploitation of the children involved.
The legal charity Just For Kids Law said the findings were ‘deeply worrying’.
It added that children were being given police records for behaviour they do not fully understand and in circumstances in which the child should be treated as a victim rather than a suspect.
Jennifer Twite, head of strategic litigation at the charity, said: ‘Police records should never be made for children under ten since they are below the age of criminal responsibility and should never be criminalised.’
Simon Bailey, the national police lead for child protection and chief constable of Norfolk, said protecting children is the main focus for sexting investigations.
He said: ‘We will not criminalise children unnecessarily and saddle them with a criminal record when the evidence suggests the sharing of images was consensual, but legislation and crime recording standards require officers to record that a crime has happened.’
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