Knife Crime Cases On The Rise In Lambeth
Police in Lambeth took legal action against 596 people for knife crime between 2015 and 2019.
A total of 596 people had a legal case started against them for knife crime committed in Lambeth between 2015 and 2019.
This includes 269 young people aged 11 to 20 years old and 162 people up to a decade older.
In Barking and Dagenham, 274 young people up to 25 years old were prosecuted for knife crime in the same time period, 148 of those 17 and under and 126 aged between 18 and 24.
Anyone over 16 caught using a knife to threaten another person or as a repeat offender, faces a minimum sentence. This is a six month custodial sentence for adults and detention or a four-month training order for those aged 16 or 17.
Research by Russell Webster found the average sentence length increased from 5.8 months to 8.1 months for adults between June 2009 and 2019, and for possession of blade or point offences rose from 5.1 months to 7.5 months.
Politicians and youth charities have criticised the harsher sentencing for not addressing the root cause of the crimes while others claim “soft” community orders are putting lives at risk.
These findings were made by the media literacy charity The Student View.