Brown wants tougher action on knives

|PIC1|Prime Minister Gordon Brown vowed to get tough on knife crime on Thursday, telling prosecutors they should take action against younger people found carrying weapons.

At a breakfast meeting with police and the director of public prosecutions, Brown said there should be a presumption to prosecute those aged 16 and 17 caught with a knife rather than let them off with a caution.

"What we've got to do is if a young person is carrying a knife there is a presumption that they will end in court, there is a presumption that they will be prosecuted," Brown said.

"Even for children under 16 carrying knives we will take the toughest of actions. We want people to understand, particularly parents, that when children and young people are carrying knives they are putting other children and young people at risk."

The proposals come after demands for the government to take action following a spate of stabbings. On Monday, a 15-year-old girl became the 16th victim to die in a violent attack in London this year.

While official figures show that the number of knife attacks and violent incidents is falling, Ken Jones, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said there was a "worrying trend" of teenagers using weapons.

"We are seeing both an intensification in the severity of offending and a worrying change in the age profile of offenders and victims, which has decreased ... down to early-to-mid teens," he said.

He said police backed Brown's idea but also said officers would continue to use their common sense.

"We need to send out a signal to those who carry knives for no good reason, that they can expect the police service to do its best to get them before a court."

Thursday's announcement comes just a week after the government launched a 3 million pound advertising campaign to warn teenagers of the effects of carrying a knife.

Currently those caught carrying a knife face up to four years in jail, but the Conservatives, who also advocate a tough policy, say fewer than one in seven offenders received a custodial sentence.

However, criminologists and experts who work with young people say a "zero tolerance" approach on its own would solve nothing and might make the problem worse.

Roger Grimshaw, Research Director at the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies at London's King's College, said "a very intelligent use of police powers" was required if young people were not to become even more disaffected.

He also said it was important to deal with the issues that caused people to carry knives not focus on weapons themselves.

"You need to look away from the instruments and look at the motivations and the concerns of young people," he told Reuters.

Rod Morgan, former head of the Youth Justice Board, said the proposal was "an example of gesture politics".

"There is no real good sense in suggesting that the guidelines be changed," he told BBC radio. "The police have all the powers they need to deal with what is a problem in some areas."

(Editing by Steve Addison)