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Prime Minister Gordon Brown is due to meet police chiefs and lawyers later to discuss plans to prosecute 16 and 17-year-olds caught carrying knives.

On Wednesday he said carrying knives was "unacceptable" and pledged extra stop and search powers for police.

Current police guidance in England and Wales is to prosecute adults caught with a knife, but caution under-18s.

On Monday a 15-year-old girl, who was stabbed, became the 16th teenager to be fatally attacked in London this year.

Mr Brown will meet representatives from the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and the director of public prosecutions at an early morning meeting in Downing Street on Thursday.

'Feel safe'

MPs are also set to hold a special 90-minute Commons debate on the issue.

Currently the "presumption of prosecution" only applies to those aged over 18. Younger teenagers caught with a knife are often not charged or are cautioned.

On Wednesday Mr Brown said all MPs would agree with ACPO proposals that the presumption to prosecute those carrying knives should be extended to 16-year-olds.


We need to send out a signal to those who carry knives for no good reason, that they can expect the police service to do its best to get them before a court
Ken Jones
Association of Chief Police Officers

"Every parent will want their teenage sons and daughters not only to be safe, but feel safe in our neighbourhoods," he said.

"That's why knives are unacceptable and we've got to do everything in our power to deter them.

"That's why the average sentence for carrying a knife is rising and that's why there are three times as many people in prison for possession of knives.

"That's why also we are using the powers of stop and search. That's why arches and metal detectors are being used.

"That's why we need visible policing to back up our safer schools policy, support for parents in their communities and the education programme we are carrying out."

'Worrying trend'

Metropolitan Police figures show that the number of victims of knife crime have gone down. In the year to March 2008, there were 10,220 such crimes, compared with 12,124 for the previous year - a reduction of 15.7%.

But the number of 11 to 18-year-olds attacked with knives between April and July 2006 rose by 4.5% compared with the same period in 2005.

Last year 27 teenagers in London met violent deaths, compared with 17 in 2006 and 15 in 2005.


If the answer was to lock up more young people then we would have solved the problem years ago
David Chaytor
Rainer youth charity

ACPO President Ken Jones said a "worrying trend" had emerged with more serious knife attacks and younger teenagers involved in attacks.

He told the BBC a clear message had to be sent: "You are not going to get ticked off for this, on first offence we will do our best to get you into court.

"I think this is the right thing to do and it's sending a message out to youngsters: 'don't carry knives.' Because it's not just about enforcement, we've got to actually change the culture around this problem, and that involves all of us, frankly."

But David Chaytor, of the youth charity Rainer, told the BBC: "If the answer was to lock up more young people, then we would have solved the problem years ago - we have already tripled the number of young people prosecuted for carrying a knife."