‘Weekly basis': Lawyer reveals why young people are still carrying knives, despite harsher laws

West Australian

08-06-2025

Harsher penalties will do little to curb the spike in youth knife crime unless the underlying reasons why they are being carried are addressed, a leading criminal lawyer has declared.
Astor Legal principal lawyer
Avinash Singh
said he deals with people charged with knife offences on a weekly basis, with many also involved in the illegal drug trade.
'We have represented a number of minors accused of carrying knives – generally from lower socio-economic areas carrying knives for self-defence,' Mr Singh told NewsWire.
'Unfortunately, a lot of these young people have been assaulted and/or threatened themselves. 'They feel that reporting the matter to police after the fact will do them little good, particularly if they are seriously injured or even killed,' he said.
'As such, they often feel that they have to carry a knife to protect themselves.'
The hard truth then, is that harsher crimes may not reduce offending, or make the community any safer, Mr Singh said.
'While it is understandable that governments and the community demand tougher laws to combat knife crime, this is unlikely to do much to reduce it in my opinion,' he said.
'People who carry knives are unlikely to stop just because of increased penalties.
'Research has found that they stop when they are no longer exposed to an environment where carrying a knife is seen as a necessity,' he said.
'This means addressing these communities by providing resources, programs and funding to prevent the issue – something governments have continuously failed to do.'
The Victorian Allan Government
announced in May it will be introducing laws to ban the sale and possession of machetes following an alleged spate of machete assaults.
From September 1, those carrying a 'controlled weapon' or knife in Victoria will face up to two years imprisonment or a fine of $30,700.
'In Victoria, community safety comes first. We must never let places we meet become places we fear,' Premier Jacinta Allan said.
'I hate these knives, and I will keep introducing as many laws as it takes to get them off our streets, out of our shops and out of our lives.'
Those found guilty in NSW face four years imprisonment fines up to $4,400.
Mr Singh said he feared 'the expanded search powers will disproportionately be used against young people from lower socio-economic areas'.
'This leads to distrust of police and can in fact have the opposite effect – that is, young people keep knives but simply avoid police and are less likely to report crimes'.
He said this is already seen in the rising amount of NSW youth caught up in the criminal system following legislation changes and bail reform.
'The strictest knife crime laws at present are in NSW. While the laws have only recently been introduced, there has been a noticeable increase in the courts seeing knife offences,' Mr Singh said.
'This, along with recent Bail Act reforms in NSW, has led to a marked increase in children being refused bail and held in custody, which does nothing to address their behaviour or promote rehabilitation of offenders.'