BY BEN KERRINGHAM
Justice ministers are predicting an influx of more than a thousand extra offenders a year who are repeatedly caught carrying a knife or blade under the new tougher measures, to be implemented next Friday, the 17 of July. A mandatory ”two strikes and you’re out” minimum 6 month prison sentence for carrying a knife will finally be introduced next week, after the Liberal Democrats disappointingly blocked it over a year ago.
Adults convicted of being in possession of a blade for a second time under the new law will face a minimum of six years imprisonment. Young offenders in the age range of 16 and 17 will face a minimum four-month detention and training order.
An impact assessment conducted by the Ministry of justice shows that 1300 offenders with a conviction caught with a knife each year without receiving an immediate custodial sentence.
Up to 1,000 offenders each year are expected to be jailed in this overdue initiative that exposes the laxity and impotence of previous legislation in Britain and Wales. Hundreds are expected to fall in the young offender bracket. Despite the fall in the number of adults convicted for possession of knives each year, the spate of knife crime in Britain remains an issue of grave concern.
Statistics estimate that 1337 of the 7944 who were cautioned or given a none custodial penalty had at least one previous conviction for knife possession. Observers and experts on the topic who have conducted an official impact assessment say that published evidence show that making sentences more severe has a minimal impact as a deterrent and increasing the likelihood of being caught is more effective. What it does not tell us is exactly how they plan to increase the likelihood of being caught. Stop and search laws widely practiced in the past was adjudged was criticized years ago for disproportionate racial profiling, yet in the high climate of crimes today, that unpopular road of stop and search may need to be re-visited. It should be applied uniformly across the country with a view of reverting the appalling pattern of knife related deaths.
The needless and growing trend of knife possession leading to deaths all over the country, especially among youths in London needs to be controlled fast. In this respect, the new proposals are most welcome. In fact, we would like to see the sentence more severe for those caught with a knife more than once. Six months imprisonment is not severe enough, and conventional practice often mean that prisoners only serve half of their term when jailed by JP’s. Furthermore, as has been stated by eye of media in previous reports on knife crime, there are many misguided youths with a warped outlook on life, who see prison as a holiday camp where they can strengthen their street credentials. The new measures are a positive step in the right direction, but still show the weak state of the law in effectively dealing with a menacing problem on our streets.
