Knife thugs laugh in face of justice

Third of repeat offenders avoid jail despite ‘2 strikes’ rule

MANY repeat knife offenders are spared jail because of leniency by police and the courts – despite a ‘two strikes and you’re out’ rule brought in five years ago.

Of more than 5,100 offenders in the past year with at least one previous conviction for possessing a blade, 1,800 – or 35 per cent – received a noncustodial sentence.

This soft-touch justice is being implemented in the face of widespread anger over the use of knives in Wild West Britain.

Police and courts dealt with the most knife crimes in a decade in the year to September – 22,286 offences. Of those 17,724 were adults and more than 4,500 were aged ten to 17. Although ministers have pledged to get tough on Britain’s knife epidemic, of the 5,100 with previous knife convictions, 50 adults were merely given a caution and 45 were handed a fine, Ministry of Justice figures showed.

The remaining 1,700 repeat offenders or so who avoided jail received such sanctions as suspended sentences or community service.

But the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 requires judges to impose a minimum six-month jail term on repeat offenders unless it would ‘make it unjust to do so’.

On Monday it emerged that the Met Police charged a total of 379 suspects with fatal stabbings in the three years to November in London, of whom 173 – or almost half – had already committed a knife offence.

Experts said the increase to 22,286 knife crimes in England and Wales was driven by county lines drugs gangs, which are spreading violence across Britain’s towns and shires.

Overall, more than 2,600 adults and youths were given a caution for possessing a knife or offensive weapon in the year to September.

Hundreds more were handed a fine, and more than 9,000 adults and youths were given other types of non-custodial sentences.

Sam Royston, of the Children’s Society, said it was ‘extremely worrying’ that a quarter of the total number of offences – more than 4,500 – involved children. He added: ‘ We see children groomed and exploited by organised crime groups to traffic drugs in county lines operations. They may carry knives because they are coerced to threaten rival criminal groups.

‘Many young people tell us they carry knives not as a lifestyle choice but for protection and because they are living in fear.

‘Too often, however, they receive only a criminal justice response rather than support to understand and address the underlying reasons for their behaviour.’

Boris Johnson announced this week that he would lead a new Cabinet committee looking at ways to tackle crime. The Prime Minister ordered all Whitehall departments to act on the ‘complex causes of crime’, signalling long-term reforms to improve health, social care, youth services and education.

The new figures from the Ministry of Justice showed use of immediate custody for knife crimes has increased over the past decade. Nearly four in ten knife and offensive weapon offences (38 per cent) resulted in immediate jail, compared with 23 per cent in 2009.

The average length of prison sentences rose over the same period from six to eight months.

In more than half the overall total –11,200 – criminals caught with a knife were also prosecuted for other crimes, including drugs, violence, robbery, theft and sex offences.

Justice minister Chris Philp said: ‘This Government is determined to turn the tide on knife crime – recruiting 20,000 police, extending stop and search and making sure violent offenders spend longer behind bars.

‘These figures should serve as a stark warning to those carrying knives – you are more likely to be jailed, and for longer, than at any point in the last decade.’

But Diane Abbott, Labour’s Shadow Home Secretary, said: ‘The number of offences is rising while fewer offenders are facing jail – clear signs of failure.

‘Rising knife crime undermines Tory claims on law and order. Unfortunately, until they tackle the crises they created through cuts to policing, schools, to mental health and drug services, there can be little confidence of major improvement.’

Liberal Democrat justice spokesman Daisy Cooper said: ‘The Conservatives’ approach to knife crime has clearly failed.’

The Mail is campaigning to halt the tide of an increasingly lawless Wild West Britain. The Office for National Statistics revealed in October that recorded knife crimes hit a record high of 44,076 in the year to June, up 7 per cent.

DESPITE soothing words from police chiefs and politicians, is it wrong to conclude an orgy of violence is surging through Wild West Britain?

No, it’s not. Gangs strut the streets brandishing weapons of medieval savagery. Day in, day out, young men are murdered in brutal turf wars. Knife crime is an epidemic.

Now chilling figures show the number of blade offenders clogging up Britain’s courts hitting a ten-year high. Yet unbelievably, thousands escape with a slap on the wrist.

Surely, if judges dispense soft justice, aren’t criminals emboldened to wreak carnage?

Fuelling the bloodshed is a pernicious – and flourishing – drug culture. Children groomed by ruthless county lines gangs to sell heroin and cocaine are instructed to carry knives. In this kill-or-be-killed netherworld, stabbing rivals enhances teenage reputations.

How to dam this torrent of misery? At the risk of stating the glaringly obvious, it would assist if officers were more visible.

Yet although the drugs trade is inextricably linked to the carnage in our towns and cities, chief constables seem to have effectively waved the white flag.

No 10 has pledged action – reversing a steep decline in stop-and-search, promising 20,000 extra police and leading a taskforce to confront the county lines menace.

Boris Johnson must grab this crisis by the scruff of the neck – and reassure a public horrified by the escalating violence.