Children involved in the recent unrest should only be prosecuted “as a last resort,” said the head of youth justice in England and Wales, warning against hasty punishment of those involved.

Keith Fraser, chairman of the Youth Justice Council, said it was “really, really disturbing” that boys as young as 11 were involved in the riots, but warned against jumping to conclusions about bringing them to court.

“The message I want to convey here is that we are not making hasty decisions about what to do with children affected by this disorder, but that we are examining each case on a case-by-case basis,” he said.

As of 15 August, 58 children and young people had been prosecuted as part of Keir Starmer’s “swift and robust” response to the worst riots in England since 2011.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) said 145 youths aged between 10 and 17 had been arrested in connection with the unrest, with 58 of them facing criminal charges.

Thirty-five of those arrested by police were 14 years old or younger – a quarter of the total – including two 11-year-olds and six 12-year-olds.

An NPCC spokesman said it was “important to avoid the unnecessary criminalisation of children and young people” but that the police had a duty to respond appropriately “in the context of the serious unrest we have experienced”.

“This may include arrest and prosecution in cases of violent unrest and other serious crimes,” they said.

The total number of people charged in connection with the riots stood at 547 as of Monday evening, according to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). The CPS has not released figures on the number of young people charged.

Stephen Parkinson, the director of public prosecutions, said this month he had instructed prosecutors to decide immediately whether to prosecute once there was sufficient evidence.

He said it was “deeply disturbing” that so many young people had been involved in the riots and warned that they faced “lifelong consequences”, including criminal conviction and being placed on the police’s national database.

Among the dozens charged so far are boys as young as 11, including a 12-year-old with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

An 11-year-old boy was charged with rioting, arson and possession of weapons following xenophobic riots in Belfast last month. He will be sentenced on September 6.

Most of the youths involved were charged with violent disorder, which carries a maximum sentence of two years’ pre-trial detention followed by a correctional sentence, the first half of which must be served in a youth correctional facility.

A 15-year-old boy from Sunderland will be sentenced next week after becoming the first to be charged with rioting, a more serious offence which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for adults.

Fraser, a former senior police officer, said the CPS was “really committed” to pursuing alternative approaches to young people but it was a “sad fact” that some children had to be prosecuted.

He told the Guardian: “I hope that each child has been considered individually. Ultimately, prosecution must be a last resort and must be seen as necessary by all parties involved.”

“From a youth court perspective, we are not saying that children should not be prosecuted, but all considerations must be taken first to ensure that the right outcome is achieved. And then when children are prosecuted, we do everything we can to ensure that they do not end up back in the system.”

Up to 485 children and young people were prosecuted for their participation in the riots in 2011, which were triggered by the fatal police shooting of Mark Duggan in north London.

A study later showed that up to two-thirds of those in court had some form of special educational needs, compared with an average of just over a fifth among secondary school students.

Steph Roberts-Bibby, chief executive of the Youth Justice Council, said she was “horrified” by the scenes of violence following the murder of three young girls at a holiday club in Southport on July 29.

She said social factors such as “poverty, alienation from school and police and lack of trust in the police” had played a role among the young people affected, who belong to a generation experiencing alarming levels of fear following the Covid pandemic.

“Even though we can compare the disruption we have recently experienced with 2011, the context in which children are living their lives is completely different,” Roberts-Bibby said.

Fraser said a full investigation needed to be carried out to understand why young people were involved in the riots, but he did not call for an official inquiry along the lines of the Scarman Report into the 1981 Brixton riots.

He said: “We need to learn from what is happening here. But whatever approach we choose, it must be clearly child and young person focused and we must look at things from that perspective.”