Offenders sentenced at all courts to immediate custody, and those who received the maximum sentence, for knife possession offences, England and Wales, 2005 to 2012[s 1],[s 2]
| Offence description | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008[s 3] | 2009 | 2010 | 2011[s 4] | 2012 | |
| Having an article with blade or point on school premises[s 5] | Immediate custody | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 10 | 7 | 4 |
| Maximum sentence of four years | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Average custodial sentence length (months)[s 6] | 5.2 | 7.6 | 4.8 | 9.2 | 6.2 | 7.5 | 9.7 | 6 |
‘—’ Nil
- ↑ The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.
- ↑ Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.
- ↑ Excludes data for Cardiff magistrates’ court for April, July and August 2008.
- ↑ Following further validation and receipt of additional magistrates’ court records, a number of revisions have been made to previously published 2011 information. As such, 2011 figures may not match what was previously provided.
- ↑ An offence under Criminal Justice Act 1988 S.139A (1X5Xa) as added by Offensive Weapons Act 1996 S.4(1).
- ↑ Excludes life and indeterminate sentences.
Source:
Justice Statistics Analytical Services in the Ministry of Justice
Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) pursuant to the answer of 1 July 2013, Official Report, column 480W, on knife crime, and with reference to table 8 of the Knife Possession Sentencing
Quarterly Brief for the first quarter of 2013, what the length of each of the eight immediate custodial sentences contained in that table which were handed down for the offence of threatening with a knife was;
Jeremy Wright: These offences are contained in the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, and came into force on 3 December 2012, and carry a minimum custodial sentence of six months for adults, and a four month detention and training order for 16 to 17-years-olds which must be imposed unless in all circumstances it would be unjust to do so. The following table shows the sentence lengths for each of the eight offenders who received an immediate custodial sentence for aggravated possession of a knife or offensive weapon.
Length of sentences for offenders sentenced to immediate custody for an aggravated knife or offensive weapon possession offence, Q1 2013,
England and Wales
| Length of sentence | Number of offenders |
| Four months up to and including six months | 3 |
| Over six months | 5 |
Source:
Ministry of Justice
It is not possible to further break down the number of offenders presented in each sentencing category from table 8 of the latest Knife Possession Sentencing Quarterly Brief due to the risk of disclosing personal data about these small numbers of individuals. We can however provide overall figures for each of the different parts of the question as follows:
| The number of offenders who were convicted for an aggravated possession offence | ||
| (a) | With a previous knife-related offence | 4 |
| (b) | With a previous violence-related offence | 5 |
| (c) | Any other previous conviction and | 15 |
| (d) | Were sentenced for other offences at the same time | 14 |
These are the latest available figures and are a copy of table 8 of the Knife Possession Sentencing Quarterly Brief which was published on 6 June 2012. The quarterly bulletin is available from the Ministry of Justice website at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/knifepossession-sentencing-quarterly-brief-january-to-march-2013
Legal Aid Scheme
Jeremy Wright: Between 9 April and 4 June 2013 the Government consulted on a number of proposals to reform legal aid via the ‘Transforming Legal Aid: delivering a more credible and efficient system’ consultation. This included a proposed model of competitive tendering for criminal legal aid services. We have been clear we must continue to bear down on the cost of legal aid, including nearly £1 billion of taxpayers’ money spent on criminal legal aid a year, to ensure we are getting the best deal for the taxpayer.
We will also be consulting in the autumn on changes to the legal aid financial eligibility tests to accommodate the further roll-out of universal credit. That will include proposals for the treatment of housing costs.
