Courts 'failing' in knife crime crackdown

Campaigners say knife crime laws are being applied in a "weak and ineffective way" as Ministry of Justice figures show fewer criminals are going to jail for knife and weapons offences.

New figures show that, in the year to September, the criminal justice system in the Northumbria Police area handed out 493 punishments for knife crime – 137 (28%) of which were immediate jail sentences.

That was lower than the year before, when 36% of knife offenders were sent to prison, while in 2019 – prior to the coronavirus pandemic – the figure stood at 38%.

Nationally, just 28% of criminals received a jail sentence after being convicted over knife crime last year – down significantly from 36% in the year to September 2020.

Patrick Green, CEO of anti-knife crime charity the Ben Kinsella Trust, said knife crime victims were being failed by the criminal justice system.

He said: "The prospect of an offender being imprisoned is diminishing and the law is no longer providing a deterrent to serial knife carriers."

A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said those caught carrying a knife are more likely to be sent to jail – and for longer – than they were a decade ago.

A spokesman for the National Police Chiefs' Council said: "Proactive policing, speaking to local communities, weapons sweeps and effective targeting of habitual knife carriers have played a role in the number of offensive weapon offences that are prosecuted.”