Labour slams SNP for 'failure' over knife crime

Published on Saturday 2 January 2010 18:54

KNIFE crime should be treated in the same way as gun crime, with offenders jailed in all but the most exceptional circumstances, the Scottish Labour Party said today.

Justice spokesman Richard Baker said the proposed Scottish Government legislation to tackle the problem is an "unacceptable failure".

Labour is to bring forward amendments to the Criminal Justice Bill in an effort to ensure people convicted of a knife crime are automatically sent to prison.

Baker said: "There are 3,500 charges of possession of an offensive weapon each year and higher rates of violent crime than in England… it is time to send out a clear message: carry a knife and go to jail."

Baker said fewer people caught carrying a knife will end up in prison if Holyrood passes the bill as it stands.

"The lack of action on knife crime in this bill is another unacceptable failure.

"Labour will ensure that the courts will be compelled to give custodial sentences for knife criminals unless there are very exceptional circumstances. This is the same way that firearms crime is dealt with."

However, a Scottish Government spokeswoman said the government was doing "more than ever before" to tackle knife crime and had also recruited a record number of police officers to catch offenders.

She said that in the past two years 2,000 knives have been taken off the streets, with those caught "dealt with by the full force of the law", adding that jail terms for knife carrying had increased by a third.