Juvenile Liaison

In the British county of Lancashire, the police have developed a special programme to prevent young children with a tendency to criminal behaviour from ending up in juvenile court. For five weeks, Broomfield and Churchill were filming at the police station, registering for instance the interrogation of seven-year-old Glenn, who was arrested for stealing another boy‘s cowboy suit. Rashida is also a potential danger for society: she is suspected of the theft of a pen and implication in the disappearance of an apple. The officers are tough on the children, involving extensive inquiries and sometimes even detention in a dark cell. Not surprisingly, the portrayal of the liaison team did not come out very flattering, with the result that the screening of JUVENILE LIAISON was banned under police pressure. Following its première at the London Film Festival, the film remained on the shelf for fifteen years.