FROM ZERO TOLERANCE ON KNIVES..TO ZERO JUSTICE

Crowded prisons crisis and cuts see thousands of cases dropped and numbers of offenders getting jail time fall by a third in decade

- BY HANNAH RODGER Political Editor

SCOTLAND'S zero tolerance policy on knife crime which saw jail sentences for carrying a blade has been abandoned, the Sunday Mail can reveal.

In 2012 new prosecution guidelines were introduced to ensure that even first-time offenders would appear before a jury in the sheriff court - a move that would almost certainly result in up to four years behind bars.

The approach combined with education programmes through the Violence Reduction Unit resulted in significant decreases in stabbing and was lauded a huge success.

But in the middle of a terrifying wave of youth knife crime a Sunday Mail investigation has found the zero tolerance strategy has been cast aside in the face of overcrowded prisons and criminal justice budget cuts.

Since 2022 only a third of knife possession charges and less than a fifth of offensive weapons charges have been handled by senior courts.

Thousands of cases were dropped, diverted from prosecution or handled in low-level courts with more lenient sentences.

The number of offenders getting jail time has also plummeted by a third in a decade.

In the last three years alone 915 cases of children caught with knives or other offensive weapons have been referred to the children's reporter.

Just eight people have been handed the maximum prison term for offences in the last 10 years.

The deaths of Amen Teklay, 15 - who was killed in Maryhill in Glasgow in March - and weeks later, 16-year-old Kayden Moy, who died following a disturbance at Irvine beach in Ayrshire, have brought Scotland’s tragic new knife crime problem into sharp focus.

Campaigners and politicians have now demanded the Scottish Government and Crown Office live up to previous pledges and take tougher action on those caught with weapons.

Kellyann Berry, whose 15-year-old son Sean Ford died after being stabbed in the neck with scissors, said: "What happened to 'zero tolerance'?