Data showing the number of persons under 18-years-old convicted of offences related to the carrying of a knife in the Metropolitan police force area from 1997 to 2007 (latest published) and the penalties imposed on them are in the following table.
Data are not available below police force area, therefore we cannot supply data for the London borough of Havering.
Sentence breakdown Found guilty Absolute discharge Conditional discharge Fine Community sentence Immediate custody Otherwise dealt with 1997 148 2 76 25 43 1 1 1998 167 1 79 40 41 5 1 1999 178 1 77 31 58 8 3 2000 194 2 57 43 84 5 3 2001 340 2 79 78 159 13 9 2002 309 5 30 32 226 10 6 2003 246 7 9 17 203 8 2 2004 239 1 13 15 196 14 — 2005 298 — 16 10 261 10 1 2006 337 1 10 3 300 20 3 2007 321 3 7 5 292 13 1 1 Includes the following offences and statutes; 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 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. 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.