Knife crime penalties OK - Justice Ministry

A Ministry of Justice report has recommended against increasing penalties for the possession of knives in public.

Justice Minister Simon Power ordered the report after a spate of knife crimes were reported in the media, and concerns voiced by Principal Youth Court Judge Andrew Becroft about young people carrying knives in public.

In Canterbury, charges for knife possession in a public place have increased by 85 percent since 2001, according to police statistics. Yesterday Shannon David Boyes-Warren, 17, was sentenced to life in prison with a 15 and a half-year non-parole period for the knife killing of Afghan immigrant Abdulrahman Ikhtiari.

But a report just issued by the ministry says that overall, police arrests for possession of a knife in a public place has remained relatively stable over the past decade.

There were 916 police apprehensions in 1999, rising to a peak of 1175 in 2006 before falling to 995 in 2008. Taking into account increases in the population, the rate actually declined.

However, the apprehension rate for the more serious offence of possession of an offensive weapon has increased, from 955 in 1999 to 1499 in 2008. Only 20 percent of these offences involved knives.

The current penalties for knife possession without reasonable excuse are three months' jail or a fine of $2000, although offenders can also be charged under the more serious offensive weapon section of the Crimes Act, which provides a jail term of up to two years.

Officials said they believed the current penalties for possession of a knife were adequate. But they said consideration could be given to increasing the penalty for possession of an offensive weapon from two to three years' jail.

That would bring the offence into line with the three years' jail provision for possession of burglary tools.

"Given the increase in apprehensions and prosecutions for the Crimes Act offence of possession of an offensive weapon we could investigate an increase in the penalty for this offence."

The report said such a move would be likely to increase the prison population and the number of offenders on home detention and community sentences, and this would require further work from the Corrections Department.

It also suggests using schools and the Government's Fresh Start programmes to educate young people on the dangers of carrying knives, and developing a voluntary accord, involving retailers, local authorities and police, to limit the sale of knives to young people.

In Britain the government recently took a more hardline approach, increasing the penalty for knife possession from two years to four years' jail, and raised the age at which a knife could be purchased to 18. It also gave police new powers to stop and search people suspected of carrying knives.

Mr Power said he was considering all options in the ministry's report, with the aim of sending a clear signal that carrying knives was not acceptable.

"It's timely we have a debate on knife possession to ensure knife crime does not escalate. I'm very keen to hear what the public thinks about these options and will be monitoring the debate closely," Mr Power said.