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Alan Johnson orders Asbo offenders to face tougher action
Martin Bentham, Home Affairs Editor13 Oct 2009
Home Secretary Alan Johnson today called for more offenders to be prosecuted for breaching Asbos as part of a new drive to stop anti-social behaviour.
Mr Johnson said too many people who flout anti-social behaviour orders are escaping further punishment — even though legislation allows breaches to be punished by up to five years in jail.
He also announced new measures to improve assistance for victims and for the rights of residents whose complaints are ignored by councils or police.
The Home Secretary's move follows outcry over police failure to tackle the anti-social behaviour which led Leicestershire mother Fiona Pilkington to kill herself and her 18-year-old disabled daughter Francecca Hardwick.
The Government's promises to tackle anti-social behaviour have been criticised as stalling or failing because of the large number of Asbos being breached. Some criminal justice experts also believe Asbos are a flawed weapon.
Mr Johnson said he would be instructing every local authority and police force to take a more robust approach to anti-social behaviour. With Asbo breach rates at more than 50 per cent, this should include more prosecutions of those who ignore the orders, closer monitoring of how disruptive behaviour is dealt with and updates for communities on how it was being tackled.
Mr Johnson also called for police and local authorities to publicise Asbos that were issued and promised to give residents a right of complaint when effective action was not taken.
He said: “We want to see police and local authorities using the powers they have been by giving further support for victims and making sure Asbo breaches are dealt with robustly through the courts.”
He pledged to give new backing, via the charity Victim Support, for those wanting to give evidence in court in anti-social behaviour cases and to set up a £2.8 million fund to assist witnesses and residents in priority areas across the country.
The latest Home Office figures show that 1,799 anti-social behaviour orders were issued in London between June 2000 and December 2007, of which 834 — or 46 per cent — have been breached at least once.
Nationally, 7,981 Asbos have been breached out of a total of 14,868 issued during the same period.
Reader views (13)
Having trouble with a family in our road, been told they are going to tamper with our cars told police heard nothng. I take my kids to school in the car will they wait till one of us killed before they do anything NO i doubt it. ASBO is now considered a trophy all yobs want one
- Tracey, Chatham, England, 14/10/2009 11:12
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Oh dear didn't we hear all this 10 years ago, is the needle stuck on the record??
- C Cusano, Bedford, 13/10/2009 14:14
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I've actually lost count of how many different home secretary's we've now had since Gordon Brown becam PM, but however many it is, that's how many times I've heard the same 'promise' to get tough on these yobs. you too late Mr Johnson, we've heard it all before
- Malcolm, London, 13/10/2009 13:50
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As Threaded says -"try more bobbies on the beat" and while that happens get them to go round and arrest those MP's for theft (sorry they call it expenses). At the same time they should tag them as well!!
- Peter, Vienna, Austria, 13/10/2009 12:44
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Conversation in the playgroud...
Everyday he rides past our house on my daughter's bike.
We know it is hers because it has an identification mark.
He sticks two fingers up at us as he rides past.
He wears a 'police tag' on his ankle.
My daughter knows him from school.
We did report that the bike had been stolen and mention that the boy who was riding the bike was tagged.
We have heard nothing.
The boy is still riding OUR bike.
Low Level crime at its best!
- Darnthesafetynet, London W11 1NR, 13/10/2009 11:17
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Postman Pat Johnson is sorely needed at the Royal Mail - I mean, doesn't this clown realise that sounding hard on yobs and scumbags doesn't quite fit his lightweight, candyfloss public image?
- Ted, London, 13/10/2009 10:33
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Yawn Yawn, election time is coming soon.
Men such as this will be judged only on their action or inaction. What counts is not what you say you will do but what you are doing now and how you let the police and importantly the courts do their job
No excuses, no promises we all know that this government has been in office long enough to sort out this problem already. Get something in place before the end of this month and we, the electorate, will judge your progress at election time.
- James, City of London, 13/10/2009 10:21
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Have them serve two days' community service instead of one!! Of course, that would breach their European human rights! All laughable.
- Phil Jones, London UK, 13/10/2009 10:15
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The Home Secretaries latest febrile brainwave is, to bugle calls, that he'll blow a great wad on lawyers shuffling paper about. Yeah, like that'll really work Alan. One wonders when it'll finally hit him that more coppers on the beat is the way forward? Probably fairly soon after the election, when he doesn't get the 24 hour police guard any longer, and has to live in the real world.
- Threaded, Roskilde, Denmark, 13/10/2009 09:47
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More useless spin and waffle from the parasite Gnome Secretary.
Another glorified quango does not have a clue what it is spouting.
- Reuben Camara, Morecambe Compound, EUSSR, 13/10/2009 09:37
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Too little too late. Family men were being kicked to death for asking vermin youth to keep the noise down. Only now years later do Labour pretend to bother with the issue. Give them another ASBO Labour, that will help.
A pathetic electioneering smoke screen.
- Frank, Home Counties, England., 13/10/2009 09:28
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Targets, targets, targets, how's this for a brainwave: try more bobbies on the beat you utter utter waste of space. It ain't rocket science!
- Threaded, Roskilde, Denmark, 13/10/2009 08:35
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Will they deal with the yobbish MPs that steal the taxpayers money,or are they above the law.
- Dave, london, 13/10/2009 07:59
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