Mandatory jail sentences for teen knife crime

Clear message: Ken Clarke said mandatory prison sentences for knife crime were essential
12 April 2012

Up to 400 teenage knife offenders a year will be given a mandatory prison term after a dramatic Government U-turn on sentencing, Ken Clarke announced today.

The Justice Secretary said he wanted to send a "clear message" about the seriousness of juvenile knife crime by introducing a compulsory four-month sentence for 16 and 17-year-olds who used blades to threaten their victims.

His comments came as he published official estimates showing that between 200 and 400 juvenile knife offenders are expected to be jailed each year as a result.

The new knife crime penalty follows a wider Government U-turn on sentencing which will also see mandatory life terms introduced for crimes other than murder under a new "two strikes and you're out rule" for a second serious sexual or violent offence.

The new mandatory life term for repeat serious offenders will also cover those who cause or allow a child to die in a move aimed at those guilty in cases such as that of Baby Peter in Haringey.

The American-style mandatory penalties, which were today criticised as misguided and ineffective by penal reform campaigners, came as Mr Clarke also unveiled a barrage of new statistics on re-offending and freed criminals.

They showed that:

271,000 crimes were committed in one year by a hard core of freed prisoners who had already committed 25 offences or more.

950 freed offenders
, including 17 murderers and 10 rapists, are on the run after ignoring efforts to recall them to prison.

Nearly half of burglars freed from jail reoffend within a year with burglary and theft among the main new crimes that they commit.

Jailed rioters will have added 1,000 to the prison population within a year. Mr Clarke's announcement of new mandatory sentences comes only days after he told MPs of his concern about adopting such a "non-British" system.

The changes, seen at Westminster as being forced on the Justice Secretary by the Prime Minister and other Cabinet ministers, will also undermine Mr Clarke's efforts to save money by cutting the prison population.

Despite this, he insisted the mandatory sentence for 16 and 17-year-olds who use knives was necessary. "We need to send out a clear message about the seriousness of juvenile knife crime," he added.

Meanwhile, new statistics published today showed that 510,00 crimes were committed in 2009 by freed prisoners within a year of their release. Of these, more 271,601 were by released inmates with 25 or more previous offences.

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