Shock tactics for knife carriers

Marches have been held in London to demonstrate against knife crime

Young people who carry knives will be made to visit hospitals where stabbing victims are treated, in a bid to shock them into changing their behaviour.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said seeing "gruesome" injuries would be a tougher deterrent than simply sending all knife carriers to prison.

A spate of stabbings was making people "nervous" about going out, she said.

The Conservatives have said children as young as five should be targeted to prevent them turning to knife crime.

Meet families

Ms Smith unveiled her plans on Sunday, hours after a man in his 30s was stabbed to death at a pub in Bolton.

A man is in a serious condition in hospital after suffering multiple wounds at Scotland's largest music festival, T in the Park, in Balado, Kinross-shire.

And on Thursday, four men were stabbed to death in London and a fifth died after a knife attack in West Bromwich.

I'm concerned about the way in which those who are carrying knives and those who are the victims appear to be getting younger Home Secretary Jacqui Smith Man stabbed to death on night out How common is knife crime?

Mrs Smith's proposals will see young people caught carrying knives being made to go to accident and emergency wards, to see the consequences of stabbings.

They will meet victims' families and make prison visits to people convicted of knife offences.

The measures, overseen by senior Metropolitan Police officer Alf Hitchcock, will focus on a number of areas including London, the West Midlands, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Lancashire, Essex and the Thames Valley.

'Serious trouble'

Ms Smith told the BBC: "I'm concerned particularly about the way in which those who are carrying knives and those who are the victims appear to be getting younger."

She said the hospital visits would "make people realise that there is nothing glamorous about carrying a knife, it doesn't help you to be more safe and you will end up in serious trouble.

"I just think that's a better way of making people face up to the consequences of action and making them more likely not to carry knives again in the future."

Earlier she told Sky News there should not be a "simplistic approach" to knife crime, adding: "I think if you use your knife or if you are in any way threatening with it, certainly you ought to be sent to prison...

"But for others, what I think would be tougher is actually being made to face up to the sorts of implications of young people carrying knives on our streets; what it means in terms of gruesome injuries; what it could well mean to your future if you end up in prison; what it means to the families of those who actually lose people through knife crime."

I also think there should have been a shock tactic, under certain circumstances, of jailing youths who are carrying knives Barbara Dunne, Mother of stabbing victim Knife fears out on the town

According to the British Crime Survey (BCS), overall violent crime has decreased by 41% since a peak in 1995.

Knives are used in about 8% of violent incidents, according to the BCS, a level that has largely remained the same during the past decade.

But the BCS figures do not include under-16s, something which Ms Smith recently announced would change.

On Sunday she said: "I think all of us understand, whatever top level statistics might say, that this [knife crime] is a serious problem - that even if it isn't happening down your street makes you feel nervous and unconfident - and that's what we need to address".

Anne Oakes-Odger, whose son Westley was stabbed to death in 2005, expressed doubts about the shock tactics to BBC Radio 5 Live.

"It all sounds rather cumbersome and not particularly cost-effective and I can't help but wonder how the actual stab victims would feel about that [hospital visits]," she said.

Barbara Dunne, whose son Robert was murdered in 2003, welcomed the plans but said ministers should go further.

"I also think there should have been a shock tactic, under certain circumstances, of jailing youths who are carrying knives - even if it's for two or three weeks," she said.

"That would have been an even bigger shock to the system. "

Patient confidentiality

Ms Smith has written to all 43 chief constables in England and Wales, reminding them of their powers to require pubs and clubs that are associated with knife or gun problems to search customers on entry.

Ministers are also looking at how hospitals might work to help the police identify offenders without breaking patient confidentiality.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Friday that recent knife deaths were "shocking and tragic". A cross-government youth crime plan it to be published on Tuesday.

Shadow home secretary Dominic Grieve said children should be targeted in the first year of primary school to prevent them from turning to knife crime later.

He said there are primary head teachers "who can point out... children who are going to be a serious problem".

'*lo** and mess'

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne described Ms Smith's plans as "half-baked", and said the government had been in denial about the scale of the knife crime problem.

Former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith, who is leading his party's youth justice taskforce, said: "I would love most kids to see the results of knife crime.

"I have talked to kids who have been involved in knife fights who have become so frightened after what they have seen - the *lo** and the mess and the dying of somebody is just appalling."