Thugs avoiding jail despite being caught with a blade five times, shock figures reveal
THUGS have avoided jail despite being caught with a blade five times, shock figures show.
The soft sentencing revelation comes despite government pledges to crack down on knife crime.
The most recent statistics available show 11 people were given a fifth non-custodial sentence for knife offences in 2021.
In most cases, offenders were given community sentences for which they have to do unpaid work like litter picking.
Others were handed suspended sentences — meaning they go free as long as they do not reoffend within a set period.
The Ministry of Justice data shows one of the 11 offenders got a community sentence for four knife offences — and a suspended one for their fifth.
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Another was fined twice and given a community sentence, a suspended sentence and a conditional discharge.
Patrick Green, chief executive of anti-knife charity the Ben Kinsella Trust, said: “At a time when knife-related murders have reached a record high, it is staggering to see that some habitual knife carriers have being spared jail on multiple occasions. This sends out the wrong message.
“It shows the law as weak, offering little or no consequence for breaking it.”
A Government spokesperson said: “Independent judges decide sentences but those caught carrying a knife are more likely to be sent to jail than they were in 2010 and our tough new laws will see more repeat offenders face time behind bars.”
