Data published today shows immediate custodial sentences were given to 13 per cent of 10- to 17-year-olds for knife possession in January to March 2017, compared with only six per cent in the same months of 2008.
Conversely, the proportion of juvenile offenders receiving a caution has fallen by 19 percentage points over the same period.
By March this year, 28 per cent of young people found in possession of knives received a reprimand, warning or youth caution, compared with 47 per cent in the first quarter of 2008.
Overall, the number of offences between the two years has fallen, from 1,633 in January to March 2008 to 1,150 in the same quarter of 2017 - a fall of 483.
In 2017 the most common punishment handed to juvenile offenders was a community sentence, with more than half (53 per cent) receiving this outcome.
The 2008 data shows in that year cautions were the most likely outcome of a knife possession offence, with 42 per cent resulting in community sentences.
Howard League for Penal Reform director of campaigns Andrew Neilson, said children affected by knife crime require "support not imprisonment".
"Knife crime appears to be on the rise, although it is still not as prevalent as it was a decade ago," he said.
"What has possibly changed is the interplay between organised drugs gangs and knife possession, particularly in greater London and the South East.
"Children caught up in exploitation by these gangs can be forced to carry knives or carry knives out of fear of the gang violence.
"There has been real progress in keeping children out of custody and this shouldn't be threatened by efforts to curb these organised gangs," he continued.
"The children affected by this are often in the most vulnerable situations and they need support not imprisonment."
In January 2016, analysis by CYP Now suggested black, Asian and ethnic minority children were more likely to be sent to custody for knife possession than white children.
Between July 2014 and September 2015, a total of 2,236 white juveniles were sentenced or cautioned for knife possession with 196 of them receiving a custodial sentence, compared to 1,471 non-white juveniles who were sentenced or cautioned for knife possession during the same period, of which 183 received a custodial sentence.
