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The Standard's Beat Knife Crime charter
Evening Standard30.05.08
London is not helpless. It can, and must, show teenagers that carrying knives inevitably leads to tragedy ... 11 young lives have been lost already this year. Here is the Standard's five-point plan.
1. More targeted high-profile searches backed up by more police with scanners on the streets, on public transport and inside and outside schools, with targeted patrols on routes to and from schools.
Targeted stops and searches for knives and weapons are effective and increasingly backed by all sections of the community. In the past two weeks alone, police seized 200 knives from youths in London, targeting high knife crime areas. Knife scanners have also proved effective. The British Transport Police say scanners have helped halve the number of robberies on the Underground and railway stations. Knife carriers use transport hubs such as rail and bus stations while Met statistics show a high number of robberies at knifepoint involve children outside school. Targeted school patrols — backed by the Met's 185 dedicated school officers — will crack down on juvenile knife crime. Using scanners in schools is more challenging but where they are backed by schools themselves they deter pupils from carrying knives.
2. Train children in “peer-to-peer mentoring” and use citizenship and personal, social and health education to teach the simple message: respect cannot be won at the point of a knife.
Education will be important to ensure future generations grow up without any illusions about the devastation knives cause — and with the skills to avoid getting involved. Schools should focus on compulsory personal, social and health — as well as citizenship — lessons on teaching children about the importance of treating each other with respect.
But the responsibility goes far wider than schools to embrace every section of society — from parents to the media responsible for creating films, music and computer games that can influence young people's behaviour. The Mayor's advisers, among others, believe that investment in youth clubs and mentoring schemes, particularly for those excluded from school, are vital to divert youngsters away from crime.
On another level, Sir Alan Steer, the leader of the government's behaviour task force, urges parents to take greater control over the music their children listen to. But this culture change will take many years to achieve.
3. Prosecute everybody found with a knife or using it to the full extent of the law: no more police cautions and no more second chances.
Until last autumn when the Met and the Crown Prosecution Service announced a new, tougher, charging policy, offenders caught with knives were frequently let off with a caution.
This was particularly the case with juveniles, but even adults regularly received the same lenient treatment, despite admitting their offence, with the result that hundreds of knife offenders each year in London were escaping justice.
Police and prosecutors have now promised that cautions will be given only in truly exceptional circumstances — such as when a person has taken a knife out for a legitimate purpose such as fishing and then genuinely forgotten to leave it behind on a subsequent occasion — and that all other offenders will be brought before the courts.
Today's charter calls for this pledge by the Met and the CPS to be fully delivered to ensure that justice is done in every case and for there to be no relaxation of this new, more robust, approach if and when the currently intense spotlight of public and media scrutiny dims.
4. Use the toughest possible sentences on knife criminals: end the slap on the wrist culture which lets offenders walk free.
The maximum sentence for carrying a blade was recently doubled from two to four years in an earlier Government attempt to respond to public concern about the growth of knife crime in Britain — but, in practice, offenders are treated far more leniently.
The latest Ministry of Justice figures, which cover 2006, show that only 17 per cent of the 6,232 people convicted of carrying a blade that year were jailed and of those just 26 received more than a 12-month sentence.
Many were given an absolute or a conditional discharge — effectively a slap on the wrist and no more — and the average sentence for those given a custodial term was less than four months.
However, last week the country's second most senior judge, Sir Igor Judge, urged colleagues to impose the “most severe” penalties to combat what he described as an “epidemic” of knife crime, a call backed yesterday by Britain's most senior police officer, the Met police commissioner Sir Ian Blair.
Today's charter strongly supports this tougher approach to sentencing to act as a strong deterrent to those who cannot be diverted away from knife crime by other means — as well as keeping dangerous offenders off the streets.
5. Make prison work with compulsory therapy for young prisoners in which they come face-to-face with the consequences of their crimes by meeting victims and the doctors who treated them.
Prison staff do seek to rehabilitate offenders, but all the evidence suggests that their existing efforts are insufficient and regularly fail to ensure that convicts turn away from crime after their release.
There are many causes for this, most linked to prison overcrowding, including the trend for inmates to be moved regularly from jail to jail which disrupts rehabilitation work and educational programmes and weakens the links between offenders, probation staff, social workers and others who are meant to help them reintegrate into society upon their release.
Where success does occur it is often where pioneering methods such as “restorative justice” — generally used outside prison — or similar techniques are deployed to make offenders confront the consequences of their crime, sometimes with face-to-face meetings with their victims.
What penal reformers, and indeed ministers and the prison authorities themselves, do say, however, is that such methods, rather than simple incarceration alone, are the way to achieve long-term success.
Click here to see a map showing the teenage victims of knife crime in 2008
Reader views (27)
Here's a sample of the latest views published.
- Robert Cunningham, Harrow, London, UK
According to your "theory" one could also apply this to various illegal drugs. How's that working out for your country?
Why are some of you Brits so interested in telling the US how to manage our Constitutional rights? Under the 2nd Amendment of the US Constitution "I" am granted the right to keep and bear arms. Plan and simple. Just because the British gave up most of there ability to own guns doesn't mean that it was a good move. The only shred of respect the citizen's of any country get from their government is directly proportional to the amount of fear that said government has of its citizens. Look around the world, common sense would tell you that, with or without stats. By the way stats do prove that educated / trained armed citizens do reduce crime in the US. Believe it or not.
- Doug Purintun, Gretna USA
There is only ONE way never to be a VICTIM and that is to ba as equally armed as your attacker.Be it with a knife or handgun. Criminals have NO respect or fear of YOU or the LAW. If they did, jails would be empty and crime near zero. It's not the case. When criminals know potential victims could be armed because the Law permits them to be so for their personal defense, they do not take the chance. Many years ago criminals were interviewed in prisons in the USA. Their greatest fear...meeting up with an armed citizen. Good luck residents of Britain, you're now sheep on the way to the butcher shop but you have failed to realize it. To think your great country is the home of the Magna Carta and of Parliamentary Democracy. HOW MUCH HAVE YOU LOST !
- Peter Daniels, Montreal, Canada
I'm afraid that Bill from Colorado is correct, Mr. Cunningham.
When you outlaw guns, criminals will switch to knives. When you outlaw knives, they'll switch to longbows and arrows. When you outlaw those, they'll switch to clubs - cricket bats I believe you call them. When you outlaw those, they'll switch to rocks and slingshots.
Criminals will always be one step ahead in their ingenuity to find another type of weapon when one is outlawed.
I suggest that Great Britain immediately outlaw women's stockings - we wouldn't want any copycat killings reminiscent of Albert DiSalvo (the Boston Strangler) would we?
- Don, Pearl, Mississippi - USA
To 'Bill, Colorado USA':
Gun crime is far more prominent in your country than ours, partly because any idiot is allowed to go and buy a gun.
You argue that people should be able to defend themselves using guns and will probably bore us with statistics about gun carrying and gun crime ratios. But it's simply common sense to realise that allowing people easy access to a supply of guns also makes it far easier for criminals to get hold of them.
Police officers and other properly-trained forces should be the only people allowed to carry firearms, and even then this should only be in special circumstances and under strict conditions.
If you outlaw the carrying of guns by the public and then stop weapons being smuggled into the country, you will reduce gun crime, as is the case in this country (though we could do a far better job of enforcing these laws than we are currently doing).
- Robert Cunningham, Harrow, London, UK
This story is really sad... You gave up your guns and now look what's happened. They were just replaced with something else. Guess it's time to take that away and let society move on to the next item that will replace it. Eventually people will run out of things to harm/kill others with right? It's not like this is an issue with how people think or act it's all about the weapon not the person behind it. What's even sadder is that it's just accepted as a fact by most people. "Weapons kill people not the people using them". I wish people would wake up and realize that criminals don't follow laws. Laws are created for people who do. The only thing that laws like this do is disarm law-abiding people making them even easier targets for those who don't follow laws. I fear that the US is heading this direction too, though I pray that I'm not here to see it. I cant imagine the day when its "illegal" for me to protect myself and my family from someone who thinks its Ok to harm or take their lives or mine. Maybe if I give up they will spare me, after all they are a rational person right? Heck, lets just take care of the problem all together. Let's make rocks, cars, rope, and everything else not made of foam or rubber illegal. Don't forget to make all physical contact illegal too. That will surely stop violence in its tracks. Because we all follow the law and do as we are told....
- Bill, Colorado USA
There is no difference between somebody carrying a knife and somebody who has intent to use a knife to intimidate.
Nobody has an appropriate reason for carrying a knife, nobody needs to carry a knife,what is the point?
Anybody who is carrying a knife,even if they say its for "protection" has the tendency to use it,as if somebody were to start trouble,they would have the intent to use it wouldn't they?
- Alex, London
I was a martial arts teacher, and no, you cannot easily "take a knife" off a determined attacker.
The knife remains the most dangerous of street weapons with a very high threat to life.
I do agree that giving a caution for carrying is contrary to the interests of public safety and justice.
- Stuart Andrews, London, UK
What is next? OK so you take away all the knives, then when people start punching and choking each other are you going to cut off their hands? The problem is not the weapons, it's human nature. Unless you next concede to becoming a mindless brainwashed culture run by a dictatorial government, there is no solution... it's human nature! You can't change that, it's futile. If you all had guns, the criminals would be in fear.
- Jmendoza, orange ca usa
There has been a recent interest by the Government in knife related crimes. Using only a martial art cross block a knife can be taken off an attacker with ease. Similarly, Elvis Presley used to show ways developed to disarm attackers armed with guns.
Instead of increasing the sentences for knife crimes and building more prisons we have a cheap alternative. The Government can instead ensure that self defence is taught in schools. We do not want to end up like the United States where one percent of the population are in prison and teaching self defence is a way to seriously reduce violent crimes.
Self defence in schools would also drastically cut the number of rape victims, at present 30% of women have been raped, which leaves mental scars for life.
- Andy Kadir-Buxton, Hatfield
How many law abiding people go out for a drink at night carrying a knife? Yes there should be 2 or 3 or 4 times the amount of police actually on the street not behind a desk. But you still have to clamp down hard on anyone that carries. Whether it is a gun or a knife. The only language that people who will use these types of weapons understand is an eye for an eye. OK, we will not use capital punishment so then we lock them up and never let them out. Thugs that have lost their mates for 10 or 20 years may not think it is quite so funny then!
- Kane, Sittingbourne,Kent, UK
It is very sad that inefficient policing has been unable to thwart a gang crime culture flourishing in urban Britain.
The problem is not with law-abiding people carrying knives but rather a gang crime problem that is up to the police to solve by better policing.
- Ky, SEAsia
It must be terrible for all of you to live in fear, knowing that you cannot legally defend yourselves. Why did you give up your rights? Now every time thugs attack someone, you give the State more powers. The police and the criminals are both laughing at you. When did helplessness become a virtue?
- Gerald, Usa, Portland USA
In Canada, the mayor of Toronto is foolishly retracing the same fools' errand that Britain has merrily pursued; that of targeting its law-abiding citizens that own guns as being primary responsible for gun-related crime. We now see how poorly this as served you as you seek to ban knives and pointed sticks. In Britain, after the tragic elementary school shootings at Dunblane, Scotland in 1996, all private handgun ownership was banned and all handguns confiscated. Since then, though, New Scotland Yard and the Home Office estimate that the inventory of illegal handguns in Britain has expanded by 3 million. Gun crime has nearly doubled and stabbings are now at a new peak. The tools to use in combating crime, are improved policing, community programs, tougher sentencing and immediate deportation of illegal aliens that commit crime. Canada lives next to the most well-armed, violent society on Earth, so politically correct bans on legal guns, pocket knives and cricket bats will hardly help us live in a safer country. Good luck to you.
- David Dalrymple, Midland, ON, Canada
To understand and effectively tackle knife crime, you need to distinguish between simply possessing a knife, and possessing it with intent to cause harm.
Some people, particularly teenagers and other young people, carry knives regularly or occasionally to ward off attackers, or even to defend themselves if they were attacked.
These people are completely different to those who carry knife to attack people and intimidate indiscriminately.
You must keep in mind the fact that the motive for carrying a knife makes a big difference to how the person carrying the knife should be judged.
- Karl Chads, London, UK
Thugs really aren't afraid of the consequences of committing knife crime. Stabbings often take place in public with many witnesses and, naturally, the offenders are usually caught. Clearly, they don't care if they get caught. Presumably, a jail sentence just adds to a thugs CV?
- Luciano, Bristol
It is sad that UK society has deteriorated so much since the loss of freedom in 1995. When good people become victims of the State that has no clue how to solve societal problems except by placing the blame on inanimate objects, then abandon all hope. First it was guns, now knives, next screwdrivers, and soon cricket bats, and ultimately bare knuckles. Why can't your politicians see the obvious? Sure, we should teach kids manners and responsibility, keep them in school, create jobs. But first, why not round up all the poor parents who produce the little rascals. They are the ultimate cause of all this violence! They created the little two-legged weapons and should be held accountable.
I used to like visiting London and strolling through the nightlife. No longer. Now the nightlife is too dangerous.
- John J, San Ramon, CA USA
I would suggest sending offenders to an American style "Boot Camp" for 6 months... that would stop it.
- Raymond, Elstree
I totally agree with Ben.
However, why don't we ensure being sent to prison, means prison ie; a place of limited comfort, access to a communal TV / social room for approx 2 hours of an evening, no on suite facilities, etc, etc.
The sooner we stop all of this PC and human rights for everyone the better. When people commit a crime they should be treated as a criminal not as someone who has to be pandered to in case we upset their sensitivities, and God forbid their human rights are not upheld for them.
- Denise, London UK
The thing is Joe, you can surely draw a distinction between people who are carrying knives as part of their daily routine and those who aren't (i.e. those who have intent to use them for harm). I'm not suggesting we should round up the UK's anglers and throw away the key, but if a teenage youth on a train/bus is discovered with a kitchen knife in his jacket there has to something done.
Furthermore, as you've gone on to advocate the death penalty further on in your post, I find your liberalistic slant on this slightly confusing. Maybe knife crime isn't in the US public eye to the extent is in the UK at present, the US administration has enough problems with guns I would imagine.
And out of interest why do you carry a knife every day? Whittler perchance?
- Ben, London
To Joe Byrns: how can carrying a knife be a crime?
Why would anyone need to carry a knife in central London? To get a head start on dinner to while away the commute? To finish carving the chess set? Anyone who carries a knife does so with the express intention of using it; either in attack or in defence. Whatever the motive, the consequences are disastrous.
Clearly more rules is not the best option, but if it reduces knife crime then surely it is worth the sacrifice.
- Kate Philips, London UK
How can carrying a knife be a crime? Shouldn't those who use the knife in furtherance of a criminal act be the ones prosecuted? I carry a knife every day the same way I wear a watch and carry a cell phone. It's just a tool and as with any tool it may be used for good or ill depending on the active intent of the wielder. A hammer or a screwdriver could be used as a weapon also. Why not make everyone who has any tools on their person into an instant criminal? Ultimately the fact of the matter is that criminals (by definition) don't obey laws, so all of this finger-pointing will accomplish nothing. Lock up multiple offenders forever and execute the murderers. That's a straightforward approach.
- Joe Byrns, Tennessee USA
It won't be long before the police are out cruising camp sites and boy-scout huts to arrest innocents with pen-knives in order to meet their knife-arrest targets.
- Ollie, London
Absolutely agree with Ben. First offence = 5 years, do it again = 10 years, do it again and goodbye, you never come out.
Not until these idiots are too scared of the consequences will knife crime come down. They just do not understand or respect people that are nice to them.
As for the prisons, use some of the extra money gained on fuel tax to build more and put another 10,000 police on the streets.
- Kane, Sittingbourne,Kent, UK
I agree with Ben. Carrying a knife should attract an automatic heavy prison sentence without ANY remission of that sentence. It should apply to all persons of a criminal liability age.
In the 1930s the vicious Glasgow razor gangs were wiped out by very long sentences handed down by a breed of Judges far removed from many of the Guardian reading, liberal elite who now sit in judgement.
- Charles Nunn, Stanmore. Middlesex.
Personally, I would suggest a mandatory 8 year jail sentence for carrying a knife.
Offenders would be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. That is the meaning of zero tolerance, not focusing on arresting people for dropping litter.
I would also introduce the same three strikes rule that they have in the USA. So that repeat offenders know they will spend the rest of the natural lives behind bars when they re-offend for a third time.
- Michael, Hammersmith, London
Could not agree more with Ben - a five year - mandatory sentence would stop it overnight. We have a growing generation of children allowed to fester under Nu Labour with no moral compass and are willing to use extreme violence without fear of the law.
Bring back sus laws immediately, heavy sentences, then start sorting the social reasons, but not the other way round.
- Darren, London
A mandatory 5 year sentence for carrying a knife. No excuses, no evasion. Simplistic maybe, but I believe this would be the most effective deterrent.
And if prisons are overcrowded, build more, it's that straightforward. I think that would be a far better way to spend £3 million than on an advertising campaign.
People are not afraid of carrying a knife, and that is the fundamental thing that must be changed if this trend is to bucked.
- Ben, London
