Peers urged to block mandatory knife crime sentences
Neil Puffett
Monday, November 21, 2011
A coalition of youth justice organisations has called on the House of Lords to block government attempts to introduce controversial mandatory sentences for children convicted of knife crime.
Changes made last month to the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill will see mandatory four-month detention and training orders (DTO) for 16- and 17-year-olds convicted of using a knife or offensive weapon to threaten or endanger.
It is estimated this could lead to as many as 400 additional children each year being jailed.
With the bill going through its second reading in the House of Lords, the Standing Committee for Youth Justice (SCYJ), a coalition of organisations including Barnardo’s, the NSPCC and Action for Children, has called for peers to oppose the change.
A briefing note highlights five key objections to the clause, including the fact that sentencers already have the power to impose custodial sentences and that the move breaches the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states custody should only be used as a last resort.
Penelope Gibbs, SCYJ deputy chair, said knife crime is a problem in specific urban areas in the UK, where young people, albeit wrongly, feel safer if they carry a knife.
"Mandatory sentences simply remove the discretion from judges to deal with each case individually and will fail to reduce violent crime," she said. "Imprisonment is seldom the answer, particularly for vulnerable teenagers.
"Knife crime needs to be dealt with through preventative education, through restorative justice and through effective community sentences. Evidence on re-offending suggests that imprisonment may only compound the problem."
