Written question asked by Richard Younger-Ross (Liberal Democrat) on Wednesday, 2 November 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 7 November 2005. It was answered by Hazel Blears (Labour) on Thursday, 10 November 2005 on behalf of the Home Office.

Offensive Weapons

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been found to be carrying knives in public without a good reason or lawful authority in (a) England and Wales and (b) the Teignbridge constituency since the coming into force of the Knives Act 1997; and how many of these received a prison sentence.

Answer

The information available is shown in the following table.

Defendants sentenced and given custody for carrying a weapon or blade, 1997–2004⁽⁷⁾
		1997	1998	1999	2000
Teignbridge magistrates court
Possession of offensive weapons without lawful authority or	Sentenced	5	1	1	7
reasonable excuse	Immediate custody	2	0	1	0
Having an article with a blade in a public place	Sentenced	1	1	1	3
	custody Immediate	0	1	0	0
Total of both offences	Sentenced	6	2	2	10
	Immediate custody	2	1	1	0

South Devon magistrates court
Possession of offensive weapons without lawful authority or	Sentenced	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
reasonable excuse	Immediate custody	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Having an article with a blade in a public place	Sentenced	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
	Immediate custody	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Total of both offences	Sentenced	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
	Immediate custody	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
England and Wales
Possession of offensive weapons without lawful authority or	Sentenced	4,130	4,375	4,135	4,108
reasonable excuse	Immediate custody	509	585	554	595
Having an article with a blade in a public place	Sentenced	3,341	3,788	3,548	3,518
	Immediate custody	372	550	534	499
Total of both offences	Sentenced	7,471	8,163	7,683	7,626
	Immediate custody	881	1,135	1,088	1,094

		2001	2002	2003	2004
Teignbridge magistrates court
Possession of offensive weapons without lawful authority or	Sentenced	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
reasonable excuse	Immediate custody	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Having an article with a blade in a public place	Sentenced	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
	custody Immediate	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Total of both offences	Sentenced	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
	Immediate custody	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a

South Devon magistrates court
Possession of offensive weapons without lawful authority or	Sentenced	23	18	29	20
reasonable excuse	Immediate custody	2	1	2	3
Having an article with a blade in a public place	Sentenced	8	17	31	14
	Immediate custody	1	1	0	0
Total of both offences	Sentenced	31	35	60	34
	Immediate custody	3	2	2	3

England and Wales
Possession of offensive weapons without lawful authority or	Sentenced	4,873	5,441	5,394	5,758
reasonable excuse	Immediate custody	634	787	760	817
Having an article with a blade in a public place	Sentenced	4,303	5,269	5,311	5,802
	Immediate custody	589	766	755	803
Total of both offences	Sentenced	9,176	10,710	10,705	11,560
	Immediate custody	1,223	1,553	1,515	1,620
Source: RDS NOMS 3/11/2005
⁽⁷⁾ The above offences are not covered within the Knifes Act 1997 which came into force, partly in September 1997 and fully in March 1999. The offences are covered under previous Acts. The offences of possession of offensive weapons without lawful authority or reasonable excuse is covered under the Prevention of Crime Act 1953 S.1. The offence of having an article with a blade or point in a public place is covered by the Criminal Justice Act 1988 S.139.
⁽⁸⁾ The Teignbridge Court was amalgamated into the South Devon magistrates court in 2000–01. The figures are shown for each court separately.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 25892; 439 c652-4W;439 c652-4W
Session: 2005-06
Subjects: Devon Offensive weapons Sentencing Teignbridge
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk

Offensive Weapons

Secondary information

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