New rules on knife crime 'starting to have impact'

TOUGH new measures to tackle knife crime are starting to make a difference, police and prosecutors said yesterday.

Guidelines, introduced in 2006, give judges stiffer sentencing powers and make it more likely that someone caught carrying a knife will end up in jail.

Figures from the Crown Office and Procurator-Fiscal Service for Strathclyde show the average sentence for knife offences was 13 months and 24 days.

The average prison term for being in possession of a knife rose from 161 days in 2006-7 to 217 days in 2007-8.

Scotland's Violence Reduction Unit said that in a one-month period four years ago, the highest sentence in Strathclyde was four months. And five years ago, a fine or suspended sentence was the likeliest outcome.

But prosecutors warned the knife-crime problem would not be resolved by the courts alone.

Lesley Thomson, area procurator-fiscal for Glasgow, said the new regime was "beginning to make a difference but it is not the complete answer".

The 2006 guidelines mean anyone caught with a knife is arrested and kept in custody pending their appearance in court.