LONDON, June 5 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Thursday pressed for prosecutions against young knife carriers in a wake of several knife deaths among youngsters in the past weeks.

    "Every young person who carries a knife should be prosecuted by the courts," Brown said at a breakfast meeting in Downing Street with police and legal chiefs to discuss plans to prosecute 16 and 17-year-olds caught carrying knives, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported.

    "What we've got to do is to make sure if a young person is carrying a knife there is a presumption that they will end up in court, there is a presumption they will be prosecuted and, even for children under 16, we will take the toughest of actions," said Brown.

    Under current police guidance in England and Wales, adults caught with a knife are to be prosecuted whereas under-18s only get caution.

    A 15-year-old girl was stabbed to death on Monday, following 15other teenagers who were fatally attacked with knife in London this year.

    Figures from the Metropolitan Police indicate that while the number of victims of knife crimes have gone down in the year to March 2008, the number of 11 to 18-year-olds attacked with knives between April and July 2006 rose by 4.5 percent compared with the same period in 2005.

    Last year, 27 teenagers in London were killed in knife crimes, as compared with 17 in 2006 and 15 in 2005.

    The House of Commons has planned to hold a special 90-minute debate on the knife issue.