The Petition of residents of the London Borough of Enfield,
Declares that the creation of a new offence of using a knife to threaten or endanger a person is welcome, as is the proposal to introduce a mandatory six month custodial sentence for those convicted of this offence; further declares that the new offence and sentence is only set to apply to those over 18 years of age, despite serious knife crimes being committed in this borough and elsewhere by people younger than 18.
The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Secretary of State for Justice to give urgent consideration to amendments to ensure that the new offence also applies to under 18s.
And the Petitioners remain, etc.—[Presented by Nick de Bois, Official Report, 21 October 2011; Vol. 533, c. 1249.]
[P000970]
Observations from the Secretary of State for Justice:
The Government are determined to tackle the scourge of knife crime that can blight people’s lives. This is why new offences of using an article with a blade or point or offensive weapon to threaten another person and cause an immediate risk of serious physical harm to that other person are being introduced in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill.
When introduced in the Bill the offences applied a minimum custodial sentence of six months’ imprisonment for an adult but did not apply a minimum sentence to juveniles aged under 18 years.
In the light of concerns raised about the need to send a clear message to under-18s that the Government consider knife crime unacceptable, the Secretary of State for Justice has decided that it is appropriate to extend a minimum custodial sentence of a four-month detention and training order to 16 and 17-year-olds found guilty of these new offences. Amendments providing for this were tabled on 31 October 2011 in the House of Commons Report Stage of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill.
As has been the case for mandatory sentences other than murder, these provisions allow for a court to disapply the minimum sentence where the particular circumstances of the case, which for a 16 or 17-year-old will include having regard to the welfare of the child, would make it unjust to apply it.
The Government concluded it is right to apply a minimum custodial sentence to 16 and 17-year-olds for these aggravated knife offences which risk serious physical harm, but do not consider it appropriate to apply this to younger children who may be dealt with more effectively within the community. This does not mean that younger children will not get custody but that the court will decide on the basis of the individual case what penalty should apply.