Not sure that you can use your experience of 50 years ago to talk about solutions for a problem now. And as many have already said on this thread, knife crime was a problem, even if it didn't directly affect you.
It's a bit like if your parents had said that the blackouts of the 70s weren't a...
“The severity of punishment, known as marginal deterrence, has no real deterrent effect, or the effect of reducing recidivism,”. If you're serious about tackling machete violence, rather than posturing, then you'd know that harsher deterrent sentences would do f*** all to actually tackle this...