Clause 25 - Penalties etc. for offence under s.24
Violent Crime Reduction Bill
3:15 pm
Lynne Featherstone (Shadow Minister, Home Affairs; Hornsey and Wood Green, Liberal Democrat)
I was not aware of that statistic, but it does not surprise me that that would be the case. In my constituency knife crime appears to be rising, and it is widespread, possibly because of the relative ease of getting hold of a knife compared with getting hold of a gun.
Amendment No. 151 is about mandatory minimum sentences. Subsections (4) to (8) should be omitted. Mandatory minimum sentences prevent a court from taking full account of the individual circumstances of a case, which can result in disproportionate sentences in contravention of article 49(3) of the European Union charter of fundamental rights, which provides:
“The severity of penalties must not be disproportionate to the criminal offence.”
The ordinary principles of the sentencing regime can be distorted because five purposes are meant to be considered when sentences are laid down under section 142(2) of the Criminal Justice Act of 2003.