A teenager who was dealing drugs by the age of 14 has been jailed for wounding and affray.
Tremayne Jones admitted two serious offences which happened last year.
But his barrister urged a judge to consider his very troubled background, and urged him not to "lock him up and throw away the key".
Jones, 18, of Shaftesbury Avenue in Montpelier, pleaded guilty to wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm (GBH) and possessing a knife in June 2018.
He also pleaded guilty to affray and possessing a knife in November 2018.
Judge Julian Lambert, who considered Jones to be a dangerous offender, sent him to youth custody for seven years.
He told Jones: "The only way out of this you will identify for yourself.
"That is education.
"You can lift yourself from the mire through education.
"You had a very troubled start in life."
Man targeted near Motion club
Neil Treharne, prosecuting, told Bristol Crown Court Jones was in a group of youths who targeted a man near Motion nightclub in June last year.
The judge was shown CCTV footage of Jones armed with a machete and the man falling to the ground in a fracas.
Though the complainant was robbed of a gold necklace and a watch, he did not wish to participate in a prosecution.
Mr Treharne said, as a result, Jones and another man dealt with separately, were charged just with affray.
Security guard stabbed
The judge was also shown CCTV footage of Jones, again armed with a machete, pursuing Lloyd Mombshora from in the early hours of November 17 last year.
In the course of a confrontation Mr Mombshora, a security guard, sustained injuries to his hand and was stabbed to his right side.
He made an impact statement saying the injury had cost him both physically and financially and he had been left unable to even butter bread or drive.
Anjali Gohil, defending, said: "This defendant is young.
"This marks a serious escalation in his offending.
"It is clear that the media and our communities are deeply concerned about knife crime, to the extent that the president of another country is commenting on the position more locally.
"There is a desire and a pressure to pass deterrent sentences.
"What is not considered nearly as much is how it is a young man from a background like this, someone who is most vulnerable, ends up at the age of 14 being introduced into supplying Class A drugs?
"That is the real concern behind this."
Miss Gohil conceded the CCTV evidence showing group violence was frightening.
But she asked another question: "How is it we end up in a situation where our children think that kind of group is their family and nobody else?"
'Socialised' into crime 'by his father'
Miss Gohil said in Tremayne Jones' case the reality was he had suffered significant trauma as a child and had been "socialised and groomed".
She said: "This defendant was socialised into engaging criminal activities by his own father.
"Work needs to be done with him.
"He has explained how willing he is to try engaging in education."
