For the first time since the coalition government took power, the Conservatives and Labour united against the Liberal Democrats to pass backbench amendments aiming to introduce mandatory prison sentences for being caught with a knife for a second time.
Under the Tory amendments, adults would receive a minimum six-month jail term on their second conviction for carry a knife, while 16 and 17-year-olds would be given at least a four-month prison term. The proposal could cost up to £43m a year and there are numerous problems with it.
Children aged 16 and 17 should not receive mandatory sentences for knife possession, even if it is the second time they have been caught. It is vital that the individual circumstances of each child are considered by the courts and that sentencers can exercise discretion.
Here is an example of why that is so important. When young people carry knives it is all too often because they fear being attacked themselves. If a young girl carries a knife because she has been the victim of rape, or gang exploitation, then sentencers should be able to consider such circumstances when they make their decision. Forcing them to imprison that child is hardly going to help matters.
What is most puzzling about the amendment is that it comes when knife crime, including knife possession, is on the wane and has been falling for several years. Even if there were evidence that the problem had escalated, there is no evidence that a mandatory prison sentence would tackle it.
Furthermore, there is not the room in our failing prisons for yet more people who do not need to be there. Some estimates suggest that up to 2,000 adults and 200 children could be imprisoned annually as a result of this proposal.
At a time when Chris Grayling is ordering already overcrowded prisons to take more people, the last thing politicians should be doing is fettering the discretion of the courts and increasing the burden on a system which cannot cope. Indeed, it would appear that implementation of this proposal will now be delayed until just before next May’s election, simply so that the Conservatives can claim they met a manifesto commitment from the last general election campaign.
Sadly Labour swang behind the Conservative amendments, not least perhaps because the opportunity to highlight coalition divisions was too tempting to ignore.
There is some hope. The criminal justice and courts bill still needs to go through the House of Lords, where common sense and evidence can often outweigh the pressures of populism. At the same time, Labour did point out in the debate that the wording of the legislation leaves the door open for some judicial discretion, although whether this will have a practical impact remains to be seen.
In the meantime, something has to give. The government has taken a major gamble by cutting prison budgets at a time when prisoner numbers are rising sharply. Trouble is on the horizon and only a significant reduction in the prison population will avert disaster.
Mandatory jail terms, which are intended to make us safer, are more likely to do the opposite.
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Andrew Neilson is director of campaigns at the Howard League for Penal Reform
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Photo: Diamond Geezer