MPs back mandatory sentences for knife possession

The proposed legislation will mean 16- and 17-year-olds will be handed a mandatory four-month detention and training order on their second conviction for carrying a knife. Adults will receive a minimum six-month jail term.

The amendment to the Criminal Courts and Justice Bill, proposed by Conservative MP Nick de Bois, was broadly supported by Conservative and Labour MPs but faced opposition from Liberal Democrats.

Under existing legislation, passed in May 2012 in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders (Laspo) Act, 16- and 17-year-olds who threaten someone with a knife in public or school already face mandatory custodial sentences.

The proposed new law would mean that they would face a mandatory custodial sentence if they are convicted twice of being in possession of a knife, even if they have not brandished it.

Campaign groups have warned that, should the amendment eventually be made law, it could result in around 200 more young people in custody.

During the debate, Liberal Democrat MP for Cambridge Julian Huppert said mandatory sentences could affect young people who may have been bullied or victimised in school and feel compelled to carry a knife out of fear for their safety.

And Labour MP for Islington North, Jeremy Corbyn, warned that although mandatory sentencing "looks tough, sounds tough and will please some of the less thoughtful media in our society", its implications "are not helpful".

"I do not approve of anyone carrying a knife, but when one then looks at who is stopped and searched, one rapidly finds a wholly disproportionate picture of modern Britain and modern youth," he said.

"A disproportionate number of black youngsters will have been stopped and searched, therefore a disproportionate number will be in possession of knives, and there will then be a disproportionate number in the prison system and a disproportionate number will reoffend."

Corbyn said that instead of introducing mandatory sentences, efforts should focus on providing young people with the opportunities, inspiration and ambition that takes them beyond gang culture.

But several MPs supporting mandatory sentences argued that current penalties do not do enough to deter people from knife crime.

The passing of the amendment, by 404 votes to 53, was criticised by campaign groups.

Juliet Lyon, director of the Prison Reform Trust, said: “Mandatory prison sentences are not an appropriate, proportionate or effective response to the problem of knife possession.

“Research shows that the majority of children and young people who carry knives do so out of fear and for protection; not to threaten or injure others.”

Penelope Gibbs, chair of the Standing Committee for Youth Justice (SCYJ), said the organisation will lobby for the amendment to be rejected in the House of Lords.

"It's a real pity the Commons voted for mandatory imprisonment for two offences of knife possession,” she said.

"SCYJ understands the problems of knife crime and teenagers carrying knives, but imprisonment is usually the wrong way of dealing with it.

"We will continue to try to persuade politicians in the Lords that this is a retrograde move.”