Express & Star comment: Is Jeremy Corbyn playing into the hands of criminals?
It is not entirely surprising that Jeremy Corbyn is against mandatory prison sentences for people who carry knives.
After all, it is not so long ago that the Labour leader voted against legislation that said people convicted of a second knife offence should be sent to jail.
However, his views on the effectiveness of community service and restorative justice are sure to raise a few eyebrows.
Sign the Express & Star's petition calling for tougher sentences for knife crime here
Mr Corbyn will be well aware of the nationwide rise in knife offences, and the desperate toll such incidents are taking on communities around the country.
As the MP for Islington North, he will have witnessed the evidence at close quarters, with the nation's capital seeing a 23 per cent spike in knife crime in the year to September.
Here in the West Midlands there have been 21 stabbings already this year, including five murders.
While the powers that be deliberate over which community initiative to introduce next, the death toll continues to rise.
Astonishing
It seems astonishing that anyone, let alone the leader of a national political party, would not consider prison sentences as a deterrent to crime.
It is largely thanks to the Conservatives' failure to get tough on crime under David Cameron that we find ourselves in the position we are now in.
Our criminal justice system is broken to such an extent that many people in this country now believe it is the law breakers who have the upper hand.
Mr Corbyn may insist that Labour is not about 'letting people off', but his own ideas of justice tell a different story.
Certainly several of his own MPs favour a tougher stance on crime.
Ask any criminal what they fear most, a few hours of community service or a stint behind bars?
Home Secretary Amber Rudd is due to reveal the Government's new strategy for tackling violent crime in the coming weeks.
A new approach is desperately needed.
If we are to be kind, we could describe Mr Corbyn's plans for tackling the issue using phrases including 'people centred' and 'compassion based'.
Plenty of others will be of the view that he is simply playing into the hands of the criminals.
