Editorial With the announcement by the Ministry of Justice confirming that one in five offenders found in possession of a knife are sent to jail, it will now be easier for criminals on London's streets to carry knives, without any fear of going to prison.
Police numbers will be cut over the next two to three years, morale inside the Met police is at record lows according to the rank and file, will it be the case that teenagers with a knife will simply be given a caution and "told to move on". What happens if the youth cautioned is then the perpetrator of a homicide?
20 per cent of people caught with knives were sent to jail, and according to the Governments own figures, this figure is dropping.
London will soon become "unpoliceable" if school police units are cut, community support officers gone, with youth crime more than likely to go up. We have very specific problems in London; we have an "urban youth culture" that has impulses from the United States, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe and Africa. Teenagers brought up on Play stations and X-Box games, have a totally different mentality when it comes to weapons. They carry knives as a form of "protection" from other youths, because the police are weak and under resourced. Justice for them is a form of "DIY" its executed on the streets, not in the courts.
The justice system is not fit for purpose; we need politicians who are able to lead a debate that is honest and relevant, not a debate on dogma or politics. We need harsher sentencing, and better policing to make sure weapons do not become the common currency they are in America or Eastern Europe.
The justice system isn't working, that's so true. I was a lay magistrate up until 6th February but resigned over the issue of knife crime. It wasn't an issue that was particularly in my remit, but I couldn't be part of a system that was failing society in the way it is currently doing so. Since that date, we've started a campaign that already has links to London, Sheffield, Manchester, Coventry and Edinburgh. We will be organising a petition - we need 100,000 signatures and we can get that, and we are wanting mandatory sentences that have teeth. We have already got several meetings arranged with politicians, the head of Scottish Victim Support, some of the key charities working in this area. We've asked for meetings with David Cameron and with Alex Salmond and Baronness Newlove. Apparently we could be waiting some time, but this campaign will not go away - we will be heard and we will influence for a change in the justice system, where at present the politicians blame the judges, the judges blame the politicians or police, the prison service or the parole board - and all of them blame the others. No-one is accepting responsibility for change - so we will. Happy to discuss more; get me at [email protected]. Caroline Johnstone
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