MORE than 400 people in the area covered by South Wales Police were convicted of offences relating to knives in the last year.

The figures for the 12 months up to September 2021 saw 427 punishments given out to people in the region for knife crime, with 177 of these given immediate jail sentences.

The sentences are lower compared to the year to September 2020, when 46 per cent of offenders were sent to prison – in the most recent figures it was 41 per cent.

The figure is also below the 2019 data, which saw 48 per cent sent to prison.

In 2015, ‘second strike’ sentences were introduced, which involve prison sentences of at least six months for repeat offenders. Of those convicted of knife crime, 137 had previous convictions. Of these, 31 of these had two prior convictions and 32 had three or more previous convictions.

Prison sentences were handed down in 82 of these cases, while 55 repeat knife offenders were given non-custodial sentences or cautions.

Campaigners believe that the laws around knife crime are being applied in a ‘weak and ineffective way’.

Across England and Wales, 20,200 knife offences ended with a conviction or caution, with 28 per cent of people convicted receiving a jail sentence in the year to September 2021 compared to 36 per cent in the previous year.

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Just over half of the 5,000 convicted across England and Wales who were repeat offenders were sent to prison, down on 63 per cent in the previous year.

Patrick Green, chief executive of the Ben Kinsella Trust – an anti-knife charity – said: “These figures show that the justice system allowed thousands of habitual knife carriers to avoid prison and walk out of court.

“The prospect of an offender being imprisoned for a knife crime offence is diminishing and the law is no longer providing a deterrent to serial knife carriers.”

A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said those caught carrying a knife are more likely to be sent to jail – and for longer – than they were a decade ago.

He added that the recruitment of 20,000 extra police officers coupled with sentencing reforms would bring more criminals before the courts and ensure offenders spend longer behind bars.

A spokesman for the National Police Chiefs' Council said tackling knife crime is a policing priority.

He said: "Proactive policing, speaking to local communities, weapons sweeps and effective targeting of habitual knife carriers have played a role in the number of offensive weapon offences that are prosecuted.

"Every weapon removed from the streets is possibly a life saved."