Ten questions, testing the accurate version of the law, not the playground version. Name: Score: _____ / 10
1. Under section 139 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, the maximum sentence for carrying a bladed article in public without good reason is:
A) A caution
B) Two years
C) Four years
D) Seven years
2. "I was carrying it for self-defence" is:
A) A full legal defence
B) A defence if you can prove you were threatened before
C) Not a defence. Arming yourself in advance is the offence itself
D) A defence for over 16s only
3. A 16-year-old is convicted of knife possession for the second time. The law requires:
A) Nothing specific, it is fully up to the judge
B) A minimum custodial sentence, at least a four month detention and training order, except in exceptional circumstances
C) A fine
D) Community service only
4. Joint enterprise means:
A) Only the person holding the weapon can be convicted
B) People who assist or encourage an offence can be convicted of it, including presence that supports it
C) Businesses owned by two people
D) A police operation name
5. Zombie-style knives and machetes are:
A) Legal to own at home
B) Legal if bought before the ban
C) Illegal to possess at all, including at home
D) Legal for collectors
6. Which careers can a knife conviction directly affect through enhanced DBS checks?
A) Medicine and nursing
B) Teaching and childcare
C) Security and uniformed services
D) All of the above
7. What proportion of people your age carry knives, according to national data?
A) Most of them
B) Around half
C) A small minority, far below what most people guess
D) Nobody
8. At 18, knife offences are dealt with:
A) The same way as at 14
B) In adult courts, with adult sentencing and an adult record
C) Only with fines
D) They stop being offences
9. Your group is heading towards a confrontation and you suspect someone is carrying. The legally and practically smartest moment to leave is:
A) Once the fight starts
B) When police arrive
C) Now, early, and visibly enough to be remembered leaving
D) There is never a good moment
10. You find someone with a stab wound. Alongside calling 999 you should:
A) Remove anything embedded in the wound
B) Apply firm pressure to the wound and stay with them
C) Give them water
D) Help them walk home
Answer Key (Teacher Copy)
1. C. Four years. Worth restating that arrest and charge follow even first-time possession; the days of the quiet word are gone. 2. C. The most important legal correction in the lesson. Self-defence law permits reasonable force in a genuine emergency; it has never permitted pre-arming, and the offence is complete on carrying. 3. B. The two-strikes minimum for 16 and 17 year olds, a detention and training order of at least four months. Pupils this age are usually shocked the discretion is removed. 4. B. Joint enterprise. Spend time here if anywhere; presence plus encouragement has produced murder convictions, and this cohort socialises in groups. 5. C. Possession offences apply even in private, following the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 and later bans. 6. D. All of them, and apprenticeship withdrawal belongs in the discussion too. 7. C. The perception gap. Correcting it is genuinely protective, per the research on normative beliefs. 8. B. Year 11 pupils are closer to this line than it feels, which is exactly why this lesson lands differently at KS4. 9. C. The early, visible exit, agreed with friends in advance. Being remembered leaving matters both for safety and, bluntly, for evidence. 10. B. Pressure on the wound, never remove embedded objects, stay until paramedics arrive. A bystander who acts fast is regularly the reason someone survives.