Consultation over sentence for selling knives to under 18s
New guidelines for sentencing business operators convicted of selling blades to children are being worked on to tackle knife crime.
There are currently no guidelines for this offence, which is prosecuted by council trading standards units and heard at magistrates courts.
Selling knives to under 18s currently carries a maximum jail term of six months or an unlimited fine for organisations.
Now the Sentencing Council is considering separate levels for sentencing organisations and individuals – which will apply to offenders who fail to ensure that adequate safeguards are in place to prevent the sale of knives to under 18s either in stores or online.
The move is to ensure the courts take a consistent approach for the offence. For large organisations sentences may be higher under the proposed guidelines.
The proposed guideline for individuals provides for a range of non-custodial sentences ranging from a discharge to high-level community order. The guideline for organisations provides for a range of fines from £500 to £1 million, with fines linked to business turnover to make penalties proportionate to the size of organisation.
Organisations cannot be sentenced to custody or given community orders.
Sentencing Council magistrate member Jo King said:“Selling knives to children can lead to very serious consequences.
"There is the risk of serious physical harm to the children who buy these knives and to other people as well as the risk of wider social harms associated with the circulation of weapons among children. A child purchasing a knife is also at risk of prosecution for possession of the knife.
“It is important that all possible safeguards should be put in place to prevent the sale of knives to children, and that the penalties for organisations are substantial enough to bring home to both management and shareholders the need to operate within the law.”
Acting National Trading Standards chairman Paul Noone said: “Given the devastation youth knife crime causes we have campaigned hard for consistent rules to be applied in sentencing those who sell knives to children.
"We strongly support this move by the Sentencing Council to seek to achieve this important outcome.”
The consultation will run until August 24. More details are on webpage sentencingcouncil.org.uk/
