The end of ASBO's in the UK

The end of ASBO's in the UK

www.bbc.co.uk

Home Secretary Theresa May has signalled the possible end of Asbos in England and Wales, saying it is "time to move beyond" the orders, first introduced by Labour 11 years ago.

They have been imposed on 10-year-old boys and 80-year-old women, used to sober up persistent drunks and mute noisy neighbours. Here are some of the more unusual Asbos.

(visit the link for the full news article)

For those of you in other countries, ASBO's were introduced into the UK by the previous Government to try and be a RESTRAINT over people causing hassle, harm and criminal effect over others...... This article actually outlines some of the more weird and outlandish ASBO's and why they were given ......

for example -
A 60-year-old man from Northampton was banned from dressing as a schoolgirl.

A bid to ban an 18-year-old from wearing low-slung trousers was dropped earlier this year

A country and western music fan was given an Asbo in January for tormenting his neighbours with Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash throughout the day.

A woman who made her neighbours' lives hell by having noisy sex breached her Asbo four times.

And these are just a few .. goto the article for the complete list.....

We live in a very strange world .....

Regards

PurpleDOG UK

www.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by PurpleDog UK


The original thought was understandable- "try to do something about teenage vandalism and violence that doesn't involve putting them in prison."

But the practice of penalising individuals not conforming with the rest of the group was definitely open to abuse.


PS Perhaps we should explain that the word stands for;
"Anti-Social Behaviour Order".

Eg, local papers might report that such-and-such a person has been banned, under an ASBO, from entering certain parts of town for six months, because he has habitually been causing trouble there.

[edit on 29-7-2010 by DISRAELI]

reply to post by DISRAELI


DISRAELI

Thankyou for the clarification.... I wonder in the USA would the equivalent be a 'restraining order' is is there some other term for an ASBO in the UK.

Regards
PurpleDOG UK

Wasnt there a case recently of a woman being issued with one after selling a goldfish to an under 16 year old? The whole system is a joke - ASBOs have become badges of honour.

[edit on 29/7/2010 by spolvil]

Hahahaha ... I love the one about the guy who pretended to be a court barrister. He actually managed to represent people in real cases.




Doesn't say if he got the accused off or not.






[edit on 29-7-2010 by bigyin]

I am not a big fan of ASBO’s however i have noticed that most people on this thread are looking at the negative cases, I really do think these are the minority. The problem i have with ASBOS is that they have because a status symbol for youths and this is making them ineffective, it’s almost fashionable to have a ASBO. I am only going to advocate the abolishment of the ASBO system when something more effective is put in place that i can agree with, its all very well saying we will get rid of ASBO’s but unless there is a suitable replacement to core problem remains.

ASBO's were a 'care in the community' tool used to control the mentally ill, teenagers and other deviants.

They DO NOT need replacing; the police already have criminal law and local authorities and social landlords can use civil law to deal with miscreants!

So what will they be replaced with?
Some new kind of control orders or what?

I mean OK ASBOs were handed out for bizarre reasons in some cases,but surely there has to be some way of busting the feral youth who make some peoples lives a living hell.

Heres an idea or two....PRISON? Stopping benefits?

Hmmm.

reply to post by PurpleDog UK


From the same article

Meanwhile, a woman who made her neighbours' lives hell by having noisy sex breached her Asbo four times.

A court heard that complaints about Caroline Cartwright "shouting and screaming" during sex and playing loud dance music had been ongoing for years. But she avoided being jailed for the latest breach in June.

She said: "I have tried to minimise the situation by having sex in the morning - not at night - so the noise was not waking anybody."

All I can say is, FREAKIN WOW! She must be amazing to wake up neighbors.

Originally posted by Silcone Synapse
So what will they be replaced with?
Some new kind of control orders or what?

I mean OK ASBOs were handed out for bizarre reasons in some cases,but surely there has to be some way of busting the feral youth who make some peoples lives a living hell.

Heres an idea or two....PRISON? Stopping benefits?

Hmmm.

Well seeing as they are trying to cut prison places as currently it costs more to send a young person through the criminal justice system in to prison than the fees for a young person to go to Eaton. How about we send what you call "feral" youth to Eaton, then maybe some of them will be lucky enough to run the country when they are older.

Or we could send them to prison were they could learn how to be better criminals on their release.

reply to post by PurpleDog UK
ASBOs worked for some and not for others. We've still got 'ankle tags,' and the kids I know who get tagged take a certain amount of pride for being 'on tag.' One in particular has a focus on stealing satnavs...the tag keeps him in at night and satnavs are more available to steal in the day.

I'm curious as to what the Tory substitute will be? I know they support privatised prisons and endorse privatised security firms too. Maybe they'll lower the bar for custodial sentencing and ramp up the prison population to boost the private prisons sector?

There's only so many ways to skin a cat and every successive government has taken a variation on a new approach. Guess we'll wait and see...

PS. The old guy that got ASBOd for wearing a schoolgirl outfit was entertaining his fetish outside of primary schools. Any guy dressing as a schoolgirl for kicks in front of five year old kids is lucky to get ASBOd. Any number of other areas would have applied local justice and whooped him.

reply to post by woodwardjnr


So,if not prison/stopping benefits, what is the answer to the "feral" youth problem?
By "feral" I mean the types of youth who go about trashing public property,taking drugs/drinking at all hours,attacking passers by,and generally behaving in a manner thought unacceptable to the rest of society.

I know prisons are getting full and are very expensive to run-but whats the alternative?

You can't just let a few youthful criminals get away with bad behaviour IMO,as if they get away with it once,they soon think they are immune to any punishments,and their crimes escalate.

Because the youths use the ASBO as a medal of honour it turned it on its head, apart from the absolute stupid reasons some people where given these things turned it into a joke for everyone.

What would work better, would be to get the youths onto a community service order, that would see them working cleaning up the litter, removing graffiti, mowing public green areas, and other highly visible community work.

Then make them wear the highest visibility suit anyone can find, with what they are doing written all over the back and why, and let the whole area see them being punished, instead of invisible punishments which serve no purpose.

I guarantee the humiliation of being seen in public with a lime green boiler suit and the reason for the punishment highly visible would not make them so damn cocky and honourable to their friends, there are a lot of jobs which need doing in all areas, fixing pot holes in the road for instance, trimming hedges for the infirm, painting railings, a huge list.

Make them actually pay the debt to the community they committed their crime in, it would make me feel that at least some justice is being served.

Like bringing back the old stocks without the locks and rotten fruit, a highly visible and public punishment.

reply to post by azzllin


Totally agree with you there, however likely find some do gooder jobs worth in the EU would claim their human rights would be violated with such inhuman treatment.

An idea I had was to give youngsters a 6 month digital ban ... ie no mobile phone, internet or mp3 allowance for 6 months . Most of them cannot survive for more than 5 minutes without some sort of digital fix, so that might give em something to think about.

Dunno how to enforce it though, maybe just take their equipment away.

reply to post by PurpleDog UK


I do think England has one of the best governments in the world (not the people in it). But yea, this is kind of silly pants.

England's government is like an alien version of the US government. Very intriguing to follow, seeing what works and what does not. Oldest republic with a monarchy in the world.

I always laugh when the evil guy in star wars says "I cannot let this republic which has stood for a thousand years fall!" ALways reminds me of Great Brittan.

[edit on 29-7-2010 by Gorman91]

The 'feral' youths are easy to deal with! Most are basically, children!

They need order, direction and to learn the basics of self control. A new form of National Service, with pride, not humiliation, that includes community or caring activities as well as 'boot camp' may work for the majority because they would have for the first time in their lives, have 'contributed' something positive.

[edit on 29/7/2010 by teapot]

reply to post by Gorman91


England....... I thought it was the British parliament?

reply to post by kevinunknown


Sure whatever you want to call it.

It's a thousand years old and still running. The current folks suck, yea, but wait a bit longer.

Originally posted by Silcone Synapse
reply to post by woodwardjnr

 

So,if not prison/stopping benefits, what is the answer to the "feral" youth problem?
By "feral" I mean the types of youth who go about trashing public property,taking drugs/drinking at all hours,attacking passers by,and generally behaving in a manner thought unacceptable to the rest of society.

I know prisons are getting full and are very expensive to run-but whats the alternative?

You can't just let a few youthful criminals get away with bad behaviour IMO,as if they get away with it once,they soon think they are immune to any punishments,and their crimes escalate.

Maybe if the Feral youth had something to do rather than hang around street corners. Invest in projects that give these kids something to do in their communities. Youth Clubs with well trained youth workers, were kids can do dance, make music and be creative.