West Midlands: Knife crime

Liz Goddard
The Politics Show West Midlands

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Violent crime is a major public issue

Karen and Sean Ross are to spend their fifth Christmas without their daughter Rosie. She was 16 when stabbed to death whilst sunbathing in Birmingham city centre in 2001.

A paranoid schizophrenic was, subsequently, jailed for her killing.

Mrs Ross's concerns are that five years later, no progress is being made on knife crime.

She told Politics Show: "Carrying a knife is still seen as less dangerous than carrying a gun - now it is illegal to carry a handgun

"I think more people are carrying knives instead. I want these crimes addressing in the same way and would support an increase in the minimum sentence from two to five years.

"I do not think at the moment there is enough of a deterrent to carrying a knife".

Legislation surrounding the ownership and criminal use of knives is abundant and goes back more than 50 years.

But the trading standards institute told this programme it is a mess and needs looking at again.

Trading standards do not have a statutory duty to ensure retailers are not selling knives to children so checks vary from different area to area.

The Law is set to change again as the Violent Crime Reduction Bill makes its way through parliament.

The Bill raises the minimum age you can buy a knife from 16 to 18 and will give teachers powers to search for weapons in school.

In the Criminal Justice Act anyone caught carrying a knife in a public place without good or lawful excuse, faces up to two years imprisonment.

This year the "Crime stoppers" campaign concentrated on knife crime in an effort to stop the growing knife culture among teenagers.

A study showed one in four sixteen-year-olds said they had carried a knife or weapons and 16% had attacked someone attending harm.

But it's not just teenagers - one in 10 of boys aged 11 and 12 reported carrying a knife.

In 2004 more than 20 teenagers died as a result of knife attacks in the UK.

The sale of knives to adults is not illegal and MPs say it is hard to legislate on what is and is not an 'acceptable' knife - i.e. one for domestic use.

So many different types such as hunting knives and collectors knives are readily available in stores and online.

For one local MP it is the sale of certain types of knives which concerns him.

Richard Burden MP says residents claim the knives are "in their face" when they are shopping.

Richard Burden is concerned about the cultural message.

Mr Burden claims it is hard to get across to children that these items are not fashion accessories when they are so readily available.

In the run up to Christmas, local Police are calling on parents not to buy toy knives and guns as presents for their kids because they can be misused and may involve their children in anti-social behaviour.

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If you have an issue you would like us to follow up then please write to: Liz Goddard, BBC Politics Show Midlands, The Mailbox, Birmingham, B1 1RF.

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