The Ministry of Justice is working closely with other departments, to tackle the serious issue of knife crime, which we recognise is an absolute priority.<\/p>
<\/p>
The Courts already have a comprehensive range of sentencing options. Unlawful possession of a knife or offensive weapon in public is a serious criminal offence which a maximum penalty of four years\u2019 imprisonment. Since 2015, adults now face a minimum sentence of 6 months\u2019 imprisonment and young people aged 16 or 17 face a minimum sentence 4 month Detention and Training Order for second or subsequent knife possession or threatening with a weapon in public offences. Courts can only depart from minimum sentencing if it would be unjust to impose these terms.<\/p>
<\/p>
Where someone is actually harmed by a knife or offensive weapon there are a range of other offences, such as causing grievous bodily harm, that the person will be charged with. These can result in lengthy sentences up to life imprisonment. For any offence, the possession, threatening with or use of a weapon will be treated as an aggravating factor meriting an increased sentence.<\/p>
<\/p>
Since minimum custodial penalties were introduced, people caught carrying a knife or offensive weapon for a second time are now more likely than ever before to go to prison \u2013 83% of offenders received a custodial sentence for repeat possession offences. The average immediate custody sentence length in the year ending September 2018 was 7.9 months.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4137", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Rory Stewart"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Penrith and The Border"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Rory Stewart"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-03-12", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "groupedQuestionUIN" : {"_value" : "227990"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-03-12T17:27:27.95Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "54"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Justice"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Justice"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2019-03-04", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Knives: Crime"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the potential merits of increasing the minimum sentence for knife-related crime.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1447", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Andrew Rosindell"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Romford"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Andrew Rosindell"} ], "uin" : "227988"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 1, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]} }