Curbs on youths with knives 'won't work'

FAIRFAX

LAW CHANGE OPPOSED: The Justice Ministry has suggested a voluntary accord with retailers, local authorities and police in areas where there was a knife problem.

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The Justice Ministry is rejecting calls to crack down on young people carrying knives in public.

Principal Youth Court Judge Andrew Becroft and a High Court judge have voiced concerns about young people carrying knives, saying there is potential for tragedy during confrontations.

Shannon David Boyes-Warren, 17, was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday with a 15½ year non-parole period for the knife killing of Afghan immigrant Abdulrahman Ikhtiari in Christchurch.

Justice Minister Simon Power has ordered a report on knife crime.

Britain has cracked down on the sale and use of knives by young people. It is illegal to sell knives to anyone aged under 18 in Britain. In New South Wales, the age of purchase of a knife is 16. South Australia is considering a similar ban.

Britain also increased the penalty for carrying a knife in public from two years in jail to four.

Statistics issued by the Justice Ministry yesterday show 194 young people aged between 14 and 16 were apprehended by police carrying a knife in 2008, though this was up only slightly from 177 a decade ago. In total, 955 people were caught with knives in 2008.

But the ministry said in its report yesterday that it did not believe young people should be banned from buying knives. It also said the penalty for carrying a knife in public should not be increased from its current maximum of three months in jail or a $2000 fine.

The report said the British ban on young people carrying knives had little or no impact on public safety. "There are a wide variety of knives which are used for legitimate purposes, even by young people."

There would be costs for retailers and police in enforcing any ban on knife sales.

Increasing the penalties for carrying knives would also add to the prison population and the number of offenders on home detention and community sentences.

Instead the ministry suggested a voluntary accord with retailers, local authorities and police in areas where there was a knife problem.

"Officials believe more could be done to educate young people in schools about the dangers of carrying knives," the report said. It also suggested increasing the penalty for the more serious crime of possession of an offensive weapon from two to three years in jail, though only 20 per cent of prosecutions under the category were for carrying knives.

Labour's law and order spokesman, Waimakariri MP Clayton Cosgrove, said any concerns over a ban on young people buying knives could be handled by police discretion.

"I don't think young people are going into the BBQ Factory for a fish slice and using them as concealed weapons," Mr Cosgrove said. "There's a difference between Johnny coming home from fishing with a knife and walking around the streets of Christchurch at 3am with a short blade."

Canterbury University criminologist Greg Newbold said tougher penalties would not have much effect on youths carrying knives.

"The only really effective deterrent would be to allow the police to randomly search people, and that would be an infringement of people's civil liberties."