Policing minister says 'youth knife crime must be tackled - no excuses' as new 'mandatory specialised plans' to tackle youth knife crime put into place
The Minister of State for Policing and Crime has discussed how a new 'mandatory specialised plans' for youths carrying knives will affect the West Midlands.
The new plans, which were announced on Wednesday (February 11), will see every child caught carrying a knife in England and Wales given a 'mandatory targeted plan' to sway them from reoffending in the future.
The purpose of the new specialised plans is to address the root causes of a child's offending, including potential exploitation by criminal gangs, childhood trauma, and lack of opportunities.
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The changes are said to be 'mandatory', with each case of a child knife possession being referred to the Youth Justice Services and locally-led teams spanning health, education and community services.
The new plans come following the deaths of both Ronan Kanda, who was fatally stabbed by two 17-year-olds in 2022 in Wolverhampton, and the death of James Brindley, who was fatally stabbed in June 2017 in Aldridge, Walsall.
As well as the two tragic deaths, a litany of incidents are reported each year regarding youths being apprehended for carrying knives in the West Midlands, including two in Wolverhampton in this month alone.
Now, in a sit-down talk with MP Sarah Jones, the Minister of State for Policing and Crime, we have discussed how these new changes will affect the West Midlands, and how they aim to tackle youth knife crime in the years to come.
What are the basics of the new plan?
According to Ms Jones, the plan will significantly affect the way that youths who are caught carrying knives are treated after being apprehended.
She said that currently, there is a range of options available to the courts in relation to knife crime, including community resolutions; however, currently, 40 per cent of children in custody are on remand, with more than 60 per cent of those not receiving a custodial sentence at a later date.
Under the new scheme, Ms Jones said those options will be scrapped, and instead, being caught carrying a knife will mean an immediate referral to a Youth Justice Services team, which will give support to the child to help address the root cause of why they are carrying a blade in the first place.
She said: "Currently, there's a range of options and interventions that you can have with children who are no longer carrying knives.
"Two of them, a community resolution and simple proportion, don't necessarily have any conditional activities; you could get a caution and be sent on your way.
"We are essentially getting rid of those two options so that you can't have a consequence where there isn't a clear and intensive diversion package.
"In previous years, I believe around 1,000 kids a year were found in possession of a knife and had no consequences whatsoever in terms of interventions, so we are scrapping that, it's wrong.
"It cannot be right that you could have a child who is caught in possession of a knife, and there is not be a package of diversionary interventions that goes alongside whatever conviction or caution is given. Youth crime must be tackled - no excuses."
