Fewer knife crime offenders in Greater Manchester were sentenced to prison last year, figures reveal
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Anti-knife crime charity the Ben Kinsella Trust said it is "extremely worrying" to see fewer criminals being sent to prison across England and Wales, despite a rise in knife crime.
Ministry of Justice figures show that 920 knife and offensive weapon offenders were cautioned or convicted in Greater Manchester in the year to March – with just 330 (36 per cent) resulting in immediate custody.
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Hide AdThis was down from 40 per cent in 2020-21, and from 45 per cent in 2019-20, before the coronavirus pandemic.
Last year, 12 per cent of offences resulted in a caution, 19 per cent in a community sentence, 24 per cent in a suspended sentence and nine per cent in another form of disposal.
Across England and Wales, the proportion of offenders receiving an immediate custodial sentence for a knife and offensive weapon offence fell from 36 per cent in 2019-20, to just 29 per cent last year.
This comes despite a 2015 policy of a “two strikes and you’re out” policy whereby repeat offenders would face a minimum six-month prison sentence for carrying a knife.
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Hide AdThe MoJ figures also show that 19,555 knife crime offences nationwide resulted in a caution or conviction in 2021-22 – which is still below pre-pandemic levels, but it is a five per cent rise on the previous year.
As a result, the rate of offences rose from 35 per 100,000 people to 37 year-on-year.