Bad to worse

I blogged quite recently that those apparently guilty of knife crime, including carrying a knife, are being treated very leniently.

It continues.

Dominic Grieve, Shadow Home Secretary, has produced up-to-date figures.

The proportion of "knife criminals" receiving custodial sentences in the last quarter has gone down from 22% to 20%, and the number receiving suspended or community sentence has gone up from 42% to 45%. Only one in five of those convicted of a knife offence actually went to prison, despite significant increases in the maximum sentence which are possible.

This does not sound very much like "tough on crime", or like a government cracking down on the knife culture. (Last year, may I remind you, 8,000 were let off with a caution.)