Criminals avoiding jail after being caught with a blade, figures show
Criminals are avoiding jail despite being caught with a blade five times, figures reveal
- In 2021, 11 people received a fifth non-custodial sentence for their knife crimes
- Most offenders were handed a non-custodial community sentences
Criminals are avoiding jail despite being caught with a blade five times, official figures have revealed.
Statistics demonstrate that 11 people were given a fifth non-custodial sentence for knife crimes in 2021, according to the Ministry of Justice.
Most often, the offenders were handed community sentences, a non-custodial sentence where they must undertake unpaid work in their local community, such as removing graffiti o litter picking.
Others were given suspended sentences, where the offender does not have to go to prison provided that they do not re-offend and comply with any requirements imposed.
The data revealed that one of the knife-wielding offenders received a community sentence for four previous knife offences and a suspended sentence for their fifth, reports The Sun.
Criminals are avoiding jail despite being caught with a blade five times, Ministry of Justice figures have revealed
While another one of the 11 offenders was fined twice and given a community sentence, a suspended sentence and a conditional discharge.
Patrick Green, chief executive of anti-knife charity the Ben Kinsella Trust, said: ‘At a time when knife-related murders have reached a record high, it is staggering to see that some habitual knife carriers have been spared jail on multiple occasions. This sends out the wrong message.
‘It shows the law as weak, offering little or no consequence for breaking it.’
This follows as analysis of Home Office crime data from the first two quarters of 2021-2022 and 2022-23 showed that knife possession across the country has risen by 15 per cent with police being called out to 14,482 incidents of people carrying bladed articles.
Around four in ten killings in England and Wales were committed with knives last year, while the number of fatal stabbings surged 19 per cent to the highest level since records began in 1946.
The survey by the ONS also found that of 69 homicide victims aged 13 to 19 years, 51 were killed by a knife or sharp instrument, accounting for a fifth of all stabbed homicide victims.
As in previous years, using a knife or sharp instrument continued to be the most common method of killing.
A Government spokesperson from the Ministry of Justice said: ‘Independent judges decide sentences but those caught carrying a knife are more likely to be sent to jail than they were in 2010 and our tough new laws will see more repeat offenders face time behind bars.’
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