Knife crime has rocketed to a six-year high amid police concerns about an epidemic of blades on the streets of England and Wales.
Courts dealt with more than 20,100 knife possession cases last year – the highest number since 2011, official figures show.
This was 8 per cent up on last year when 18,600 people were punished.
Meanwhile, the number of young offenders cautioned or sentenced after being caught with blades hit 1,180 between April and June – more than any time since September 2009.
Knife crime has rocketed to a six-year high amid police concerns about an epidemic of blades on the streets of England and Wales (file image)
But the figures also reveal that 40 per cent of people with at least one previous convictions for knife possession escaped prison – despite the Government introducing a ‘two strikes and you’re out’ minimum six-month sentence in 2015
Shocking new statistics, published by the Ministry of Justice, revealed only 2,650 of 4,370 repeat knife offenders were spared immediate custody, meaning they were freed to pose a risk to the public.
Police chiefs fear they are seeing the signs of a knife crime epidemic in major cities, including several young men stabbed to death in London this year.
Senior officers have warned that youths are carrying blades for status and protection while campaigners have said youngsters are increasingly desensitised to the realities and dangers of knife crime.
Last month Amber Rudd signalled her support for an increase in the use of the contentious powers to combat the carrying of offensive weapons
The rise comes against a 57 per cent fall in the number of stop and searches. A record low of 387,448 checks were made in 2015-16 compared to 904,089 stops in 2013-14.
In 2015, then Home Secretary Theresa May introduced reforms to reduce the ‘excessive and inappropriate’ use of stop and search – amid concerns they fuelled resentment by disproportionately targeting ethnic minorities.
But she was criticised by senior police chiefs, including then Scotland Yard commissioner Sir Bernard-Hogan Howe, who blamed a rise in stabbings and gang violence on a reduction in the tactic.
Last month her successor Amber Rudd signalled her support for an increase in the use of the contentious powers to combat the carrying of offensive weapons.
As the decade began, knife crime in England and Wales was falling but in the past three years the trend has reversed, according to the latest figures.
A record 42 per cent of adult offenders were jailed, while 13 per cent of 10-17 year olds were sent to prison.
The average sentence for knife possession was between seven and eight months, three months longer than the average in 2008.
Some 42 per cent of all sentences passed for adults are for immediate custody, 25 per cent are suspended sentences and 15 per cent are community sentences.
Justice Minister Dominic Raab said: ‘We’re catching and prosecuting more of those who carry a knife or blade. Those convicted are more likely to go to prison, and for longer terms.
‘Knives are a scourge of communities. Our message to those carrying a knife is that you should expect to end up in jail.’
In July the Government unveiled plans that would require online shoppers to collect knives in person under proposals to clamp down on sales of blades to children and teenagers.
It is already an offence to sell knives to under-18s but the planned measures would mean they cannot be delivered to private property, such as the buyer’s home.
Ministers say this would make it harder for under-age purchases to go undetected following warnings that online age verification checks can be sidestepped.