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Reid steps up knife crime fight | |
(about 2 hours later) | |
Home Secretary John Reid has announced measures to improve the recording of knife crime following a series of fatal stabbings. | |
Mr Reid told the Commons that, from next month, data on serious offences involving knives and sharp instruments would be recorded separately. | |
This would provide "a more detailed understanding" of the problem, he said. | |
Five fatal stabbings over the past week have led to calls for knife crimes to be recorded and for tougher penalties. | |
Mr Reid also pledged to improve facilities to allow the public to pass on information about knife crime to the authorities. | |
"We need to take action before, as well after, the awful headlines we have seen," he told Parliament during a debate on the subject. | |
"I don't think I have pretended today to be offering a solution because I don't think it is within the power of government alone to offer such a solution. | |
"I think it has to involve personal and parental responsibility as well as the local community. " | |
Data call | |
Earlier, criminologist Marian Fitzgerald, a former Home Office adviser on crime and race, told BBC News the government had not taken the issue of knives as seriously as guns. | |
"With firearms, the police are required to record if an offence involved the use of a firearm," said Ms Fitzgerald, who now works at the University of Kent. | |
"They're not similarly required to record whether it involved the use of a knife." | "They're not similarly required to record whether it involved the use of a knife." |
Official figures show there has not been a rise in knife-related murders, but she said the lack of data on other knife crime left researchers "in the dark". | Official figures show there has not been a rise in knife-related murders, but she said the lack of data on other knife crime left researchers "in the dark". |
"Unless you've got that trend data you don't know whether the problem is going up or down - and certainly you don't know whether anything you do to tackle it is making any difference," she added. | "Unless you've got that trend data you don't know whether the problem is going up or down - and certainly you don't know whether anything you do to tackle it is making any difference," she added. |
Adam Regis, 15, was stabbed to death in London at the weekend, only days after 16-year-old Kodjo Yenga was killed. | |
Kevin Platt, 30, was fatally stabbed to death in Manchester on Friday, and two other men, aged 21 and 24, were killed in separate incidents in the city. | |
Prime Minister Tony Blair branded the series of fatal stabbings "horrific", but pledged tougher sentences to help tackle violent crime. | |
The new Violent Crime Reduction Act would allow courts to pass "much tougher sentences", he said. | |
But the prime minister said the most serious violent crime rates were falling. | |
"I do think we need specific measures directed at gangs, guns and knives," he said. | |
Sentence call | Sentence call |
Opposition politicians have also stressed the importance of tackling the issue. | Opposition politicians have also stressed the importance of tackling the issue. |
KNIFE CRIME Of 820 homicides in 2004/05, 236 (29%) were killed with sharp instrumentThis was the most common method of killingKnives were used in 6% of all violent crimes 2004/05 Source: British Crime Survey | KNIFE CRIME Of 820 homicides in 2004/05, 236 (29%) were killed with sharp instrumentThis was the most common method of killingKnives were used in 6% of all violent crimes 2004/05 Source: British Crime Survey |
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell called for a mandatory five-year sentence for carrying a knife. | |
And shadow home affairs minister Edward Garnier stressed the need to "inculcate into [youngsters] the culture that carrying a knife can be fatal". | And shadow home affairs minister Edward Garnier stressed the need to "inculcate into [youngsters] the culture that carrying a knife can be fatal". |
Under current laws, it is an offence to carry a knife in public without good reason or lawful authority - with the exception of a folding pocket knife with a blade less than 3in (7.5cm) in length. | Under current laws, it is an offence to carry a knife in public without good reason or lawful authority - with the exception of a folding pocket knife with a blade less than 3in (7.5cm) in length. |
The maximum sentence for carrying an offensive weapon was raised from two to four years' imprisonment last year. | The maximum sentence for carrying an offensive weapon was raised from two to four years' imprisonment last year. |
And police launched a knife amnesty last summer, during which more than 100,000 weapons were handed in. | And police launched a knife amnesty last summer, during which more than 100,000 weapons were handed in. |