"Secret Home Office figures show that 1,226 suspects under the age of 18 were found guilty of carrying a potentially deadly blade in 2006.
But, despite promises of tough sentencing, only 72 were put behind bars - one in 17.
The average sentence was 3.4 months, which because of the early-release scheme meant that a typical offender spent just eight weeks behind bars.
The rest escaped with a fine, a community sentence or - in 113 cases - an absolute or conditional discharge.
Police sources said that the soft-sentence scandal is even worse than it appears because hundreds more under-18s caught carrying a knife are not brought before the courts.
They are given a warning, a formal caution or are monitored by a youth offending team - meaning as few as one in 50 youngsters caught with a knife or blade is sent to prison."
As I have blogged before, "Now do you wonder why crime is so high? The chances of a thief getting caught are slim, the chances of their case being proceeded with are less than 25%, the chance of getting convicted slim and the chance of actually being meaningfully punished even slimmer." It looks as though I may have over-estimated the chances of having a case against someone being taken to court.
1 comment:
I would suggest that using a knife as a weapon is a crime that deserves custody, not the simple and potentially harmless act of being caught with a knife in a public place.
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