Anti-knife call to parly
Eric Baxter • Published 22 Mar 2010 14:00
INVERKIP anti-knife campaigner John Muir will speak to the Scottish Parliament's Justice Committee tomorrow.
The committee will take the unusual step of hearing evidence from witnesses at stage two of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Bill.
Mr Muir will speak about mandatory sentencing for knife crime, saying that, other than in exceptional cases, the courts should impose a minimum custodial sentence of either six months or two years for carrying a knife.
Mr Muir, whose son, Damian, was killed by a knife-wielding thug in Greenock, will tell the committee 'Damian's Law' was never specifically for introducing mandatory sentencing but was an attempt 'to shake the Government, the judiciary, the police and the public out of complacency'.
He'll say a 'sanitised academic approach to serious violent crime is largely responsible' for the situation facing Scotland and the UK.
Mr Muir said: "We have perhaps become as used to violent crime over such a long period of time that our resolve and horror is not truly reflected in penalties, regardless of political gesturing.
"Damian's Law is and always was about common sense. The same common sense that should have been applied to Damian's assailant but was not.
"The courts did not intervene earlier when they should have, otherwise Damian would be alive.
"The victims and their families are totally overlooked, ignored, yet the scum of our society thumb their noses at us - the surviving victims.
"We must reintroduce fear of penalty and totally disenfranchise the benefit and attraction of carrying a knife or a weapon."
Committee Convener Bill Aitken said: "The Justice Committee has agreed to take evidence on some of the amendments lodged for stage two.
"All the evidence we take in this session, and the written submissions we have received, will be taken into account when the amendments are formally debated after the Easter recess."
This article appeared in Greenock Telegraph 22 Mar 10
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