How to breach your Asbo and get away with it ... blame your parents or friends

Young thugs who breach an Asbo should be spared jail in virtually all cases, sentencing experts said yesterday.

Punishments should be reduced further if young offenders are led astray by 'peer pressure' or if they suffer from 'a lack of parental support'.

The proposals from the Sentencing Guidelines Council mean youngsters from more troubled backgrounds, or those who hang around with other young offenders, can expect more lenient treatment for ignoring Anti-Social Behaviour Orders.

Critics poured scorn on the plans, claiming the Asbo policy - once the flagship of Tony Blair's law-and-order strategy - was in disarray and Labour's Respect Agenda to stamp out yobbish behaviour had petered out.

Asbos were supposed to be backed up by tough criminal punishments for those who breached them.

But many young offenders regard one as a badge of honour, and the latest sentencing rules will substantially reduce the punishment risk of ignoring the orders.

The proportion being breached by under-18s has leapt to 60 per cent, while the numbers handed out by courts has plummeted.

The proposals will slash maximum prison terms for a breach by under-18s from two years to one.

But they make clear that the courts should consider locking up juveniles only as 'a last resort', where a youngster has caused 'serious harassment, alarm or distress' through threats of violence or targeting vulnerable individuals.

Even when the 'custody threshold is crossed', the courts should stick to a community sentence if at all possible.

The council also urged the courts to slash the maximum punishment for adults for breaching an Asbo from five years behind bars to two.

New rules recommend a jail sentence of just six weeks for a typical adult Asbo breach.

With parole and the controversial early-release scheme to tackle prison overcrowding, most offenders will be behind bars for only a week.

Even for adults who cause 'serious harassment, alarm or distress' in breaching an Asbo, the starting point for a sentence should be six months - meaning that with standard reductions they will serve only ten weeks behind bars.

More typical Asbo breaches such as drunkenness, ignoring bans on entering particular areas or using public transport, should be punished with a community order, the council urges.

Nick Herbert, the Conservative justice spokesman, said: 'The Government's flagship Asbo policy is in disarray, with the number issued collapsing and now sentencing guidelines effectively ignoring the terms set by Parliament.

'The public wants effective action to deal with youth crime and anti-social behaviour, but the "respect" agenda once vaunted by ministers has simply petered out.'