A £500,000 initiative to try to stop young people from carrying knives was announced today by the Scottish Government.
Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill revealed details of the No Knives Better Lives campaign at a special youth conference – where schoolchildren had the chance to have their say on the issue in a Big Brother-style diary room.
The Scottish Government
has been working with the Violence Reduction Unit and a group of about 50 young people over the last six months to develop the initiative, which aims to educate youngsters about the dangers and the consequences of carrying a knife.
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David Maddox writing in The Steamie: So who is the minister for knives?Part of the money will be used to develop new products and promotional materials for the campaign, and young people will be given the message at schools, via the internet and at conferences.
Mr MacAskill stressed the role young people have in tackling the problem at the national youth conference of violence and knife crime at Edinburgh's Murrayfield stadium today.
Students from 11 schools across Scotland were invited to the event.
And while Mr MacAskill said that most youngsters were well behaved and were more likely to be a victim than an offender, he added: "We've seen too many young lives damaged or lost by a knife – we can't go on as we are."
He said: "To change Scotland's culture of violence we need to educate young people and help them understand the consequences of carrying a knife.
"We also need to listen to what young people have to say, speak to them about what can help and act on it.
"That's why we've been working with young people to develop this £500,000 initiative to help engage with young people and give them information about the dangers of carrying a knife.
"They've told us No Knives Better Lives was a simple yet powerful message, and that we should be using viral internet clips, short films, information hubs and competitions to speak positively with young people. That is what this initiative is all about.
"We'll be working with schools, youth groups, local communities and through the internet to make sure the No Knives Better Lives message gets to as many young people as possible."
Detective Chief Superintendent John Carnochan, the head of the Violence Reduction Unit, also stressed the importance of listening to youngsters.
He said: "As adults we often forget what it's like to be young and how something like knife crime impacts on young people. All too often young people are portrayed negatively, when the truth is they are just the same as us – they want nothing more than to be with their friends and family and to be safe."
Sam Kerr, the chair of the Scottish Youth Parliament said: "Painting pictures of young people as knife-wielding thugs is only going to make things worse and that's why we're delighted that the Government is taking this issue seriously – by involving young people we can better understand what we need to do to make them feel safe in their communities too."
The conference comes days after Solicitor General Frank Mulholland said a tougher approach to the prosecution of knife crime was paying dividends.
New guidance was issued to police and prosecutors in 2006 after a review of knife crime procedures.
These set out that anyone caught carrying a knife was to be arrested and held in custody and that bail would be opposed if there was a previous conviction for possessing or using a knife or for violence.
In cases with a previous conviction for a similar offence there is also a presumption in favour of prosecution before a judge and jury.
Since the guidelines were introduced in June 2006, 641 knife-carriers have been prosecuted on indictment – allowing greater sentencing powers.
Bail was opposed in 535 of these cases, resulting in 367 being kept in custody.
And of the 572 cases that have been concluded, 448 people were convicted, of whom 349 were jailed, with an average sentence of 11 and a half months.
Labour justice spokesman Richard Baker welcomed the new initiative to educate youngsters about the dangers of knife crime, but added: "Later this week the SNP will announce plans to scrap sentences of six months or less meaning that 81% of knife criminals will dodge jail.
"To tackle knife crime you need a mixture of education and tough sentences not the SNP's soft touch criminals' charter."
