Thirty-eight children are locked up overnight in Thames Valley Police cells each week, new figures obtained by the Howard League for Penal Reform reveal.
Research by the charity shows that there were 1,976 overnight detentions of children aged 17 and under in police stations across the region during 2011.
Figures for Oxfordshire were not available.
The total across England and Wales was 40,716 – which equates to an average of 112 detentions per night.
Frances Crook, chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “Holding children as young as 10 in police cells overnight is unjustifiable.”
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