Carrying a knife should mean a TEN YEAR sentence!

(picture; TOPSTAR)

Welcome to the first of many blogs I'll be sharing with you. My aim is to talk about everyday topics and writing of course.

As the title suggests, this article is about knife crime, something sadly our society is getting used to, it's happening all too frequently.

'The maximum penalty for an adult carrying a knife is 4 years in prison and a fine of £5,000.' (https://www.gov.uk/buying-carrying-knives)

Out after two years with good behaviour, It's hardly life now is it?

As I write this blog I'm reading about yet another death from a stabbing, a sixteen year old boy in Notting Hill. No matter what he'd done, he didn't deserve that, nobody does.

It's not only the victim that's affected here, it's the parents, brothers and sisters and friends, no one is ever the same.

'Up to 1,000 people a month are victims of knife crime in London, according to alarming new statistics.

They show that around 400 a month are being injured in attacks — many of them seriously — while others are being threatened. In the first four months of the year, 11 people were murdered in knife attacks. Four teenagers have been stabbed to death so far this year.

The statistics, obtained after a Freedom of Information request, reveal that there were 1,038 victims of knife crime in London in January, of which 410 were injured and four killed. The remainder were threatened with knives.

The figures for February show there was a total of 818 victims, in March there were 993, and in April there were 892 victims. The number injured in attacks reached a peak of 420 in April, the equivalent of 14 people a day.'

(http://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/1000-knife-crime-victims-in-london-each-month-shocking-new-figures-show-8681511.html)

When I decided to use knife crime as my first article I didn't have a clue just how bad the problem is, and sadly it's on the rise.

You'll hear it be said, 'I carry it for self protection,' I'm sorry but that's ridiculous! If you carry a knife then you intend to use it! If you want self protection go to self defense classes.

For some reason it's seen as 'hard' to carry a knife and you get a reputation to go with it.

Friends look up to them as they carry a blade, it's crazy.

Some of the reasons lives are taken are just as ridiculous, I found one where the victim had cussed the attacker's mother, he said he saw red and stabbed him. The boys had known each other for five years and were friends!

Another where it was an argument over who had the better postcode, a 'postcode gang' murder.

I think it's obvious that the measures in place to tackle knife crime just aren't working, incidents of knife crime are still too high. The only answer in my opinion is longer sentences, a lot longer!

If you are found to be carrying a knife then you should be aware of the law, at the moment the sentence, if it wasn't so serious, is laughable.

The minimum sentence should be ten years and none of this 'Out after half the term served,' for good behaviour you get two years knocked off.

If you are caught carrying a knife a second time then fifteen years, no softly softly approach, it simply doesn't work.

Today in Notting Hill a mother and family are grieving for a young man that was yet another victim of knife crime and it has to stop, we just need to find a way and soon.

(http://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/pictured-alevel-student-17-stabbed-to-death-in-notting-hill-by-gang-of-youths-on-bikes-a3287131.html)

A teenager was stabbed in death in Notting Hill in front of horrified tourists and passers-by after fleeing from a gang of youths on bikes.

The 17-year-old, named locally as Fola Orebiyi, collapsed and bled to death in Portobello Road last night just yards from busy pubs and restaurants.

Drinkers and staff from the near-by Portobello Star pub rushed to help the student as he staggered down the street.

Paramedics and doctors called to the stabbing attempted life saving treatment in the road but the teenager died at the scene.

Witnesses said Fola, who was studying A levels at sixth form college, was stabbed in a street clash close to Westbourne Grove just yards from the Portobello Arts Club.

RIP Fola, another victim of knife crime.

What suggestions do you have to help combat knife crime?