LONDON, (Reuters) – The government plans to raise the minimum jail sentence for people convicted of murder using a knife to 25 years from 15 years, Justice Secretary Jack Straw said yesterday.
The proposal follows a government review of the law prompted by growing public alarm over knife crime, in particular the fatal stabbings of a string of teenagers. “I propose to introduce a new adult starting point of 25 years for murder using a knife or other weapon carried to the scene with intention of use as a weapon,” Straw told parliament.
The proposed reform will be put to the House of Commons before the end of December and will then be debated in both houses of parliament before becoming law, he added.
Conservative justice spokesman Dominic Grieve said he supported the proposal in principle, but urged the government to employ more police to enforce the law.
“Without cutting red tape to get more police on the street to catch the perpetrators, or providing the prison places for those convicted, this will prove yet another empty gesture,” he said in a statement.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said last year that tackling knife crime was a top priority for his government.
Police have stepped up searches in 10 knife crime “hotspots” and courts told to take tougher action against those convicted of carrying a weapon. Metal detectors were set up outside railway stations and nightclubs and teenagers were warned about the dangers of knives. A report from parliament’s Home Affairs Committee in June said teenagers carried knives for protection, fuelling a knife “arms race” in some deprived cities.
It found killings with knives had jumped 26 percent in Britain from 2005 to 2007, while the overall murder rate had been stable since 2006.
Despite widespread concern over knives, the report said the number of teenagers who used them in attacks was very small.
The family of one murder victim, 16-year-old Ben Kinsella, has campaigned for tougher penalties for people convicted of stabbings. Kinsella, whose actress sister Brooke appeared in EastEnders, was stabbed to death in north London in June 2008.
