Fast-track ‘Booze and Blades’ Court Cuts Knife Crime

A specialist court set up to tackle the menace of Scotland’s “booze and blades” culture has led to a massive reduction in serious knife crime. An official evaluation of violence in Inverclyde over the first year of its dedicated weapons court – launched by ministers in June last year – has revealed a 9% fall in the number of slashings and stabbings involving knives and blades.

Police figures show that serious assaults with other weapons, such as baseball bats and golf clubs, also fell by 32% in a region that has become notorious for violent crime, high levels of deprivation and drug abuse. The number of serious assaults dropped by 19%.

Under the controversial scheme, a first for Scotland, offenders charged with carrying knives or offensive weapons are fast-tracked through the courts.

The time taken to prosecute has been cut from 26 weeks to nine weeks, in the hope that the implementation of swift justice will act as a deterrent to persistent knife carriers.

The hearing system, which takes place every fortnight at Greenock Sheriff Court, was introduced amid growing concern at the increase of knife-related crime in Scotland.

Some 323 of the 667 murders committed in Scotland between 1998 and 2003 involved knives. In the same period there were 14,463 convictions for handling an offensive weapon.

Superintendent David Stewart, sub-divisional officer at Greenock Police Office, described the drop in Inverclyde’s levels of violent crime over the year as “substantial”.

“We are delighted with these results . However, we are not complacent and we will work with our partners to continue this positive trend.”

In Inverclyde, the vast proportion of violent crime is committed using some type of weapon. Last year, around 300 people were reported to the area procurator fiscal for using or carrying weapons – 50% of which were knives.

The drive to reduce knife crime also led to the wider Inverclyde Weapons Initiative being set up alongside the weapons court. This included increased stop-and-search powers and school visits by police to warn children of the dangers of carrying weapons.

Figures for the year show that although the number of searches rose by 22%, to 1011, the number caught with a weapon fell by 19%, to 107.

The scheme’s apparent success suggests the model may be extended to other areas. A spokesman for the Inverclyde Weapons Initiative added: “Innovative initiatives, such as those adopted in Inverclyde, are the kind of good practice that may be shared by local boards.”

Opposition politicians welcomed the fall in violent crime, but rejected the idea that specialist courts were the answer.

Kenny MacAskill, SNP justice spokesman, said: “The moral I take from this is not so much that what works are specialist procedures, rather that you deal with the issues quickly. The way to reduce violent crime is to ensure that the whole court process is speeded up .”

In May, Lord Advocate Colin Boyd introduced tough new rules for knife offences. Any person accused of carrying or using a knife who has a similar previous conviction now faces prosecution before a judge and jury instead of a sheriff alone, meaning tougher sentences will be handed down. Prosecutors will also routinely oppose bail if an accused has knife-related previous convictions.