Sale of Knives etc to Persons Under 18 (Section 141A Criminal Justice Act 1988)

Criminal Justice Act 1988, s.141A

Summary only
6 months' custody

Definition

Any person who sells to a person under the age of eighteen years an article to which this section applies shall be guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale, or both. (Criminal Justice Act 1988, s.141A(1)) Subject to subsection (3) below, this section applies to (a) any knife, knife blade or razor blade, (b) any axe, and (c) any other article which has a blade or which is sharply pointed and which is made or adapted for use for causing injury to the person. (Criminal Justice Act 1988, s.141A(2))

Points to prove

Any person
sells
to a person under the age of eighteen years
an article to which the section applies, namely any knife, knife blade or razor blade, any axe, or any other article which has a blade or which is sharply pointed and which is made or adapted for use for causing injury to the person (s.141A(2))
the article not being one described in s.1 Restriction of Offensive Weapons Act 1959 or in an order made by the Secretary of State under the section (s.141A(3))

Sale of Knives etc to Persons Under 18 is an offence under s.141A Criminal Justice Act 1988. Any person who sells to a person under the age of eighteen years an article to which the section applies is guilty of an offence (s.141A(1)). The section applies to any knife, knife blade or razor blade, any axe, and any other article which has a blade or which is sharply pointed and which is made or adapted for use for causing injury to the person (s.141A(2)), but not to any article described in s.1 Restriction of Offensive Weapons Act 1959 or in an order made by the Secretary of State under the section (s.141A(3)). Subject to s.141B, it is a defence for a person charged to prove that he took all reasonable precautions and exercised all due diligence to avoid the commission of the offence (s.141A(4)). Maximum sentence: on summary conviction, imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale, or both (s.141A(1)).

In practice

This is a summary-only offence: it must be tried at the magistrates' court. Police may charge without CPS authority for summary offences. The suspect must be cautioned in accordance with Code C PACE 1984 before any questions about the offence are put to them. Interviews must be audio-recorded (Code E).

Last updated 20 October 2026. Reviewed 20 October 2026

Mode of trial: Summary only
Maximum sentence: 6 months' custody
Act and section: Criminal Justice Act 1988, s.141A
Power of arrest: A constable may arrest without a warrant anyone who is about to commit an offence, anyone who is in the act of committing an offence, anyone whom he has reasonable grounds for suspecting to be about to commit an offence and anyone whom he has reasonable grounds for suspecting to be committing an offence (s.24(1)); if he has reasonable grounds for suspecting that an offence has been committed, he may arrest without a warrant anyone whom he has reasonable grounds to suspect of being guilty of it (s.24(2)); and if an offence has been committed, anyone who is guilty of it or whom he has reasonable grounds for suspecting to be guilty of it (s.24(3)). The power is exercisable only if the constable has reasonable grounds for believing that for any of the reasons mentioned in s.24(5) it is necessary to arrest the person in question, those reasons being to ascertain the person's name or address, to prevent the person causing physical injury to himself or any other person, suffering physical injury, causing loss of or damage to property, committing an offence against public decency or causing an unlawful obstruction of the highway, to protect a child or other vulnerable person from the person, to allow the prompt and effective investigation of the offence or of the conduct of the person, or to prevent any prosecution for the offence from being hindered by the disappearance of the person (Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, s.24(1) to (5)).
Search on arrest: A constable may search a person arrested at a place other than a police station if he has reasonable grounds for believing that the arrested person may present a danger to himself or others, and may search the arrested person for anything which he might use to assist him to escape from lawful custody or which might be evidence relating to an offence, provided he has reasonable grounds for believing that the person may have concealed on him anything for which such a search is permitted; the search may only go so far as is reasonably required and may not require removal in public of more than an outer coat, jacket or gloves, though it authorises a search of the mouth (Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, s.32(1), (2)(a), (3), (4) and (5)). The power to enter and search premises on arrest under s.32(2)(b), and the power to enter and search premises occupied or controlled by the arrested person under s.18(1), apply only where the offence is an indictable offence, which this summary-only offence is not (Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, ss.18(1) and 32(2)(b); Interpretation Act 1978, Schedule 1).
Detention clock: A person shall not be kept in police detention for more than 24 hours after the relevant time without being charged (Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, s.41(1) and (2)), and must then be released, on bail if the pre-conditions for bail are satisfied or without bail if they are not (s.41(7)). The authorisation of continued detention to 36 hours by a superintendent (s.42) and warrants of further detention from a magistrates' court to a maximum of 96 hours (ss.43 and 44) do not apply, because each requires that an offence for which the person is under arrest is an indictable offence (s.42(1)(b) and s.43(4)(b)), and this offence is triable only summarily (Interpretation Act 1978, Schedule 1).
Source: www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/33/section/141A