Knives out for Reid

Five years in prison if you are caught carrying a knife says the Daily Mail today, suggesting that home secretary John Reid may be considering stiff mandatory sentences, or longer maximum sentences, for those caught with a concealed weapon. This would be in response to a hysteria about knives that seems to exist only in the media. A couple of random and unprovoked attacks bring the story into the public eye, then suddenly every knife incident is national news. This was best summed up by the way the BBC's Breakfast reported the murder of a Bristol man on his doorstep as 'the latest in a series of unrelated stabbing incidents'. If they are unrelated, how is it a series?

Introducing harsher penalties for simple possession of a knife is unlikely to have any effect on the number of stabbings that take place. Some attacks are pre-meditated and undertaken by someone who does not habitually carry a knife; many people who do feel the need to carry a knife for protection - whether that is a sensible idea or not - will not feel any safer, so they will carry on carrying; there will always be a few headcases that want to go out and cause trouble and are unlikely to be deterred by stiffer sentences; and many stabbings happen in the home - is the home secretary going to suggest banning dangerous cutlery?

However, throwing the book at anyone caught in possession will definitely mean that a significant number of people who were unlikely to hurt anyone will end being sent down for years - into prisons that are already hopelessly overcrowded. The previous resistance at the Home Office to mandatory sentences on this matter probably reflects a realisation that there are practical problems with such an idea. But with a rudderless government facing a media onslaught, the most likely response will be further crackdowns.