Juvenile Liaison

Juvenile Liaison 1 (1975) and Juvenile Liaison 2 (1990) are documentary films by award winning film director Nick Broomfield about a juvenile liaison project in Blackburn, Lancashire. The first film examines a series of children and their run-ins with the law, over minor wrongdoings such as theft, truancy, and short-term bullying. The second film revisits some of the residents from the first, in some sort of attempt to measure the success of the scheme.

The original film was funded by the British Film Institute, who controlled its distribution. When the subject matter became known, Lancashire Constabulary, the police force featured, put pressure on the families of the participants to withdraw their consent, and after taking legal advice the BFI did not allow the film to be shown publicly until 1990. This led some commentators to call Juvenile Liaison 1 "The Film the Police Arrested". Juvenile Liaison 1 revolved mainly around the activities of Sergeant George Ray, whose preventive measures when dealing with young troublemakers fell mainly in the strong-arm category of approach. In Juvenile Liaison 2, Ray was contacted by phone but declined to appear, hinting at misrepresentation and possible damage to his career.