Knife crime strategy slammed as incoherent

LONDON, Aug 10 (Reuters) The government's approach to reducing knife crime is incoherent and relies on amnesties and penalties that will have little effect in reducing violent attacks, a charity said.

Promises of increased sentences for knife carrying were a knee-jerk response to a problem that would only be addressed by studying its underlying causes, the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies said yesterday in a report.

''Government and the police lack a coherent, evidence-based, reasoned strategy for dealing with knife carrying and knife-related offences,'' it said.

''There is insufficient evidence that a knife amnesty or increasing sentence length for carrying knives will decrease the level of knife use and carrying.

''The number of knives available to those inclined to use them is almost infinite. Young people and children can simply take a knife from their home.'' The study said levels of knife use in all crime had remained broadly steady over the past 10 years, although there had been some increases over the last 12 months.

Knives were used in 93,800 muggings or attacks by strangers last year, a jump from the 57,690 cases the previous year but well down from the 144,910 recorded in 1995.

''The knife is merely an implement used in crime. Without dealing with the underlying causes of violent crime, initiatives to reduce knife usage will only have a limited impact,'' the study said.

Children, young men, those living in poor areas and members of black and minority ethnic communities were more likely to be victims of knife crime.

''A lot of violent crime is linked to the fact that there is deprivation in certain parts of the country,'' the charity's deputy director Enver Solomon told BBC Radio.

''We need to understand more why young people are motivated to carry knives.'' A Home Office spokesman said tackling knife crime was a government priority.

''People may think carrying a knife makes them feel safe, but in fact it increases the risk of having it turned on them.

''We will increase the maximum sentence for carrying a knife in public without good reason from two to four years, to give a clear message that knife carrying is a serious matter which can attract a long custodial sentence.'' A national amnesty, which ended in June, netted more than 100,000 knives during its five-week span, including machetes, meat cleavers and axes.

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