Act now to cut knife crime

8:40am Friday 15th August 2008

Comments (0)   Have your say »

DESPITE the publicity given recently to knife crime on and by young people, figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats show that only 71 people in England and Wales have been successfully prosecuted for selling knives to children in the last five years.

Out of these none was sent to prison and only one was given a community sentence. Fines were given to 56 people and 21 of them were given fines of less than £200.

This is a completely inadequate deterrent.

In Cheshire, there were 224 serious crimes involving knives in the year 2007/8. In 23 per cent of serious crimes in Cheshire, over the same period, a knife was involved, this figure putting the county in the top 10 police authorities in England and Wales for this statistic. Though these figures do not apply to children only, they show that knife crime is a serious issue in this county.

Too many children are being drawn into a culture of carrying and using knives. More should be done to prevent knives being sold to them.

Liberal Democrats believe that the courts must also take a much stronger stand against those who are caught illegally selling knives to children and young people. Cutting the supply of knives is one of the most effective ways to reduce knife crime in all age groups.

The maximum punishment for selling a knife to someone who is underage is six months in prison and/or a £5,000 fine. Since October 1, 2007, underage in this context has been under 18 years of age.

The figures obtained by Chris Huhne are for the period 2002-6 (the latest period for which figures are available), when it was under 16 years of age.

PETER HIRST Middlewich