New figures show a third of repeat knife offenders across the West Midlands were spared an immediate jail sentence last year, facing either caution or given a community or a suspended sentence instead. I'm here to ask people in Birmingham whether jail sentences should be mandatory.
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00:00 Okay, well, knife crime is a serious phenomenon. I mean, young people are really seriously
00:06 under supported with avoiding this as a behaviour. So I suppose I feel fundamentally that while
00:13 punishment is a really important thing, and we need to be able to keep the public safe,
00:17 it's also incredibly important that we structurally invest in young people and their lives to
00:23 protect them from this type of activity, this loss of a decent future. I think knife crime
00:30 is connected to everything else that we're suffering from in society at the moment.
00:35 I think just knowing that there's triple offenders still out on the street with no repercussions
00:40 or very minimal, maybe a suspended sentence at the least, is intimidating for the public
00:46 to know that they're just among us like that. There should be almost a three strike rule
00:54 so that there's more enforcement of what people can do. Well, the judges and whoever's being
01:00 sentenced, they have to think about their actions more cautiously and abide by what
01:06 the public do.
01:07 Yeah, I think like, as well as a woman kind of, you know, walking faces on your own, and
01:12 you already have kind of that worry and you don't really feel as safe and secure. And
01:17 I want to be able to like walk around and feel safe. And I don't want to have to feel
01:20 like I have to be on the phone to someone or kind of like walking subconsciously really
01:24 quickly anywhere. So I think knowing that as well, it does kind of scare you that little
01:29 bit more.
01:30 I think when it comes to knife crime, it's a very, very serious sort of up close and
01:35 personal. A lot of, I mean, the thing is you could kill somebody or cause them like a lifetime
01:44 disability. I think it needs to be taken more seriously. And I think that, you know, the
01:50 court suspended sentences and things like that seem to kind of maybe encourage them
01:56 to think that they can do it again. It's a concern.