Scottish Labour today described Kenny MacAskill’s attitude to knife crime as ‘deeply complacent and dangerous’.
 
The party’s Justice spokesman Richard Baker said that a government-backed study into gang violence showed how bad the problem of violence in Scottish society is but said that the SNP were missing the point on knife crime.
 
Last year almost 60 people were killed in knife attacks. 
 
Richard Baker said:
 
“When so many people are murdered in knife attacks in Scotland in a year, doing nothing cannot be the right option. Minimum, mandatory sentences will send a strong message to the whole of Scotland not just young gangs that there is a certainty of jail if you carry a knife.
 
“Youth gangs use of knives is a real problem in Scotland but it is not just young people who carry and use knives. The biggest age-group of people convicted of knife murder is people between 30 and 49.
 
“There needs to be a range of approaches to curbing Scotland’s deadly relationship with the blade and mandatory minimum sentences should be part of that.
 
“Education, diversion and targeted policing are all valuable but the public want and expect tough action.
 
“We need to remember that even though someone may take a knife out without the intention of using it, a situation can quickly develop that means that a person is dead and a family is devastated.
 
“I will continue to listen to the families of knife victims and the 30,000 Scots that are demanding action against knife criminals.”

10 September 2010