The myth of the failed ASBO
The predicted demise of the anti-social behaviour order will be mourned by many in the media. Since being introduced in 1999, they have been a source of many a good news story.
Sadly, to many they were a symbol of Labour's desire to push the state further out at every opportunity. ASBOs couldn't just be instigated by the police, councils could push one to court, as could housing associations. Then came the 'evidence' that they weren't working: trouble-making youths seeing them as a badge of honour, and the statistic that 55% of ASBOs were broken.
The coalition set out early on its plan to 'move beyond the ASBO.' That now appears to mean scrapping the ASBO and giving the police more powers to solve yobbish problems. The idea the Daily Telegraph (link above) particularly likes is the idea of a copper seeing a 'yob' vandalising a fence and making him repair it on the spot.
Brilliant. Instant justice. But what happens next time, and the time after that? Is being supervised by a policeman to repair a fence any less of a badge of honour to the cretins who commit anti-social behaviour than an ASBO? Of course not.
And here's where the negative myths around ASBOs do some real damage. The interpretation of 55% of ASBOS being broken be proof that ASBOs don't work is simply wrong.
To start, it means almost half work. That means that half the communities who have seen anti-social behabviour orders deployed have seen some benefit.
In the cases of the other half, a breach means an instant appearance back before the magistrates, with jail terms of up to five years for breaches. Of course, such a sentence is very rare, but an ASBO ensures an escalation process is in place if someone breaks the terms of their ASBOs.
If police and councils have done their jobs properly, they will have ensured the terms of the ASBO are widely known in the community. That provides many eyes and ears to ensure the ASBO terms are kept. The very fact the ASBO is in place will encourage those who previously thought nothing would be done to be a little more active.
A policeman telling the kid to mend a fence on the spot won't help there, will it?
Of course, some cretins may see it as a badge of honour, but does it really matter what they think so long as communities know the cretin is skating on very thing ice? Odds are, they'll see prison as a badge of honour too.
And that's where the ASBO critics get it wrong: The ASBO is meant to be useful to the subject, it's meant to reassure those around the subject. Take that away in favour of more powerful police officers and we're in trouble - not least because the coalition cuts are going to result in fewer officers.
As with an increasing number of coalition policies, the ASBO decision on its own seems odds, but when compounded with other policies, it becomes downright dangerous.
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David Higgerson - David Higgerson has covered local and national politics for much of his career as a journalist. This blog aims to look at Westminister from the outside in, at a time when it appears very few are looking out from the inside.
