SUNDAY MAIL INVESTIGATION: In the last three years alone, 915 cases of children caught with knives or other offensive weapons have been referred to the children’s reporter.
(Image: Stuart Vance/ReachPlc)
Scotland’s zero tolerance policy on knife crime, which saw jail sentences for carrying a blade has been abandoned, the Sunday Mail can reveal.
In 2012 new prosecution guidelines were introduced to ensure that even first-time offenders would appear before a jury in the sheriff court – a move that would almost certainly result in up to four years behind bars. The approach combined with education programmes through the Violence Reduction Unit resulted in significant decreases in stabbing and was lauded a huge success.
But in the middle of a terrifying wave of youth knife crime a Sunday Mail investigation has found the zero tolerance strategy has been cast aside in the face of overcrowded prisons and criminal justice budget cuts.
●Since 2022 only a third of knife possession charges and less than a fifth of offensive weapons charges have been handled by senior courts.
●Thousands of cases were dropped, diverted from prosecution or handled in low-level courts with more lenient sentences.
●The number of offenders getting jail time has also plummeted by a third in a decade.
●In the last three years alone 915 cases of children caught with knives or other offensive weapons have been referred to the children’s reporter.
●Just eight people have been handed the maximum prison term for offences in the last 10 years.
The deaths of Amen Teklay, 15 – who was killed in Maryhill in Glasgow in March – and weeks later, 16-year-old Kayden Moy, who died following a disturbance at Irvine beach in Ayrshire, have brought Scotland’s tragic new knife crime problem into sharp focus.
Campaigners and politicians have now demanded the Scottish Government and Crown Office live up to previous pledges and take tougher action on those caught with weapons.
(Image: UGC)
Kellyann Berry, whose 15-year-old son Sean Ford died after being stabbed in the neck with scissors, said: “What happened to ‘zero tolerance’? It’s disgusting. They definitely need to take this more seriously as it looks like people are getting away with very little punishment.
“If you don’t take a tough stance when people are caught carrying knives and weapons they think they can get away with it. It doesn’t deter them at all. It doesn’t stop the problem of people carrying knives around.
“Now there’s young kids going about on social media showing off knives and stuff, it’s terrifying.”
Connor McMath, 20, attacked Sean at a flat in Wishaw on March 7, 2020. In 2021, McMath was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 15 years at the High Court in Glasgow for his murder.
Mum-of-four Kellyann, 40, said her son’s killer had been seen with a knife just days before Sean’s murder and is furious that possession cases are not being dealt with more seriously.
Kellyann now talks to her three surviving sons, who are aged between six and 20, about the dangers of carrying knives. She said: “They know what can happen, they know what happened to their brother.
“I’m glad to say they wouldn’t ever associate with anyone who was carrying a knife and they’d tell their pals not to do it. But it shouldn’t take a murder for kids to know the real dangers of these things.”
Her calls come more than decade after former Lord Advocate Frank Mulholland vowed to take a zero tolerance approach to knife crime.
It was under his new guidelines in 2012 that warnings were issued that anyone caught with a knife would be prosecuted in front of a sheriff and jury and face up to four years in jail.
Former Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill(Image: Getty Images)
Then-justice secretary Kenny MacAskill extended the maximum sentence to five years for possession.
In 2004 there were 137 homicides in Scotland with 40 cases in Glasgow alone. However by 2016 the number had more than halved to 62. But in the last three years alone just a third of the 10,871 cases of knife possession reported to prosecutors have gone before a sheriff and jury.
Hundreds of offenders have been diverted from prosecution – where they are referred to council social workers – and 501 cases of knife possession have been referred to the children’s reporter.
For those carrying offensive weapons, just 18 percent of the 10,956 charges reported to prosecutors were dealt with by a sheriff and jury.
A quarter of cases were either diverted from prosecution, referred to the children’s reporter, or offenders were issued a warning.
The remaining approximately 6000 cases were either not prosecuted or heard in lower-level courts where there is a maximum sentence of a year and jail time is increasingly rare.
MacAskill, said: “There have been recent knife tragedies and shocking social media posts showing children flaunting them.
“While the situation isn’t as grim as a decade ago we can’t sleepwalk into a crisis.
“We do need to take action to avoid ending up with the knife pandemic we once faced. Learning lessons from the past is vital. Tough sentencing is part of it, which is why legislation was changed.”
MacAskill said previous evidence showed the majority of people who were carrying knives did so out of fear, and said: “Some were doing so through bravado and only a small number through evil intent. Separating the stupid or misguided from the malevolent is essential.
“No knife carrying can be tolerated but the tough sent-ences must be for the latter not the former. Education and diversion are required as is the knowledge that they’ll be caught, which is why targeted stop and search still has a role.”
Scottish Tory shadow justice secretary Liam Kerr MSP said the SNP had abandoned its pledge.
He added: “There was a very high-profile and clear pledge on knife-crime, and that pledge has been totally neglected by the SNP.
“Two youngsters have been stabbed to death in recent months, amid a spate of violent attacks, so this complacency is unacceptable and sends completely the wrong message to offenders.
“Instead of continually pushing their soft-touch justice agenda, SNP ministers must ensure those carrying deadly weapons are dealt with and punished appropriately.”
Scottish Labour’s Justice spokesperson Pauline McNeill said: “Violent crime is on the rise in Scotland and we cannot afford to downplay the threat of knife crime.
“Over a decade has passed since the Lord Advocate called for tougher penalties for knife crime but these worrying figures appear to suggest little has changed.
“The SNP must ensure our justice system is equipped to prevent and prosecute knife crime appropriately so we can keep our communities safe.”
The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service said: “COPFS recognises the impact knife crime has on communities.
“Scotland’s independent prosecutors consider each report on its own facts and circumstances before deciding on the most appropriate action.
“Sentencing for any crime is a matter for the courts.”
A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “The Scottish Gov-ernment increased the maximum penalties for knife possession and handling offensive weapons in 2016 from four to five years.
“We remain focused on tackling the issue of violence and have made it clear no one should carrying a weapon at any time in any place.
“While of little comfort to any victims, knife crime has fallen significantly over the past 15 years with a 69 per cent decrease in emergency hospital admissions due to assault with a sharp object between 2008-09 and 2023-24.
“However no incidence of knife crime is acceptable and this Government remains resolute in our determination to tackle this.”