3
Dec
2012
By Calvin at 12:55 GMT, 13 years ago
Justice Secretary, Chris Grayling, stated today that people carrying knives in a threatening manner “should and will go to jail”. This statement comes as a result of an amendment to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 by Conservative MP Nick de Bois. Follow this link to read the details of the new offence of threatening with an offensive weapon and the (almost) mandatory minimum prison sentence of 6 months for those convicted or a four month detention order for those convicted aged 16 and 17 years old.
At the same time people who are now convicted of a second serious violent or sexual crime will face mandatory life sentences and they will only be released when they have served at least two-thirds of their sentence. In addition to this, the sentences for the hate crimes of killing someone because they are disabled or transgender will be doubled to 30 years. This minimum sentence already applies to people who kill because of race, religion or sexual orientation.
The Labour party’s interesting response by Sadiq Khan MP, Labour’s Shadow Justice Secretary, can be read at this link
Link to new legislation: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2012/10/section/142/enacted
