The maximum sentence for possession of a knife or sharp instrument in public was increased from two to four years as part of the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 and came into force in April 2007. The Government considered that it was necessary to make sure that there was a clear message about the seriousness with which knife possession should be considered, reinforced by the announcement on 5 June that all those aged 16 and over caught in possession of a knife should expect to be charged.
Figures for having an article with a blade or point in a public place show that in 2006, 6232 people were convicted, an increase of 5 per cent. on the previous year. Data relating to 2007-08, covering the period following the increase in the maximum sentence, are not yet available.
[holding answer 13 June 2008]: The arrests collection undertaken by the Ministry of Justice provides data on persons arrested for recorded crime (notifiable offences), by age group, gender, ethnicity, and main offence group, i.e. violence against the person, sexual offences, robbery, burglary, etc. More detailed data about specific offences do not form part of this collection.
Data showing the number of defendants proceeded against and found guilty of possessing a knife in a public place in Lancashire and England from 2002 to 2006 are in the following table. Data for 2007 will be available in the autumn of 2008.
The court proceedings database held by the Ministry of Justice does not hold details about the circumstances of the offences. It is therefore not possible to supply data for grievous bodily harm offences involving knives.
The statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.
Number of defendants proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for possessing a knife in a public place1, in Lancashire and England, 2002 to 20062,3LancashireEngland2002Proceeded against1276,611Found guilty985,082 2003Proceeded against1596,624Found guilty1365,1652004Proceeded against1886,987Found guilty1615,6122005Proceeded against1826,988Found guilty1505,7272006Proceeded against1697,268Found guilty1446,018 1 Includes the following offences;Having an article with blade or point in public place—Criminal Justice Act 1988 S.139 as amended by Offensive Weapons Act 1996 S.3.Having an article with blade or point on school premises—Criminal Justice Act 1988 S.139A (1)(5)(a) as added by Offensive Weapons Act 1996 S.4(1).2 These data are on the principal offence basis.3 Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.