Blackburn MP Straw in ASBO row

8:12pm Sunday 11th May 2008

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A SOLICITOR has said the Government must have a rethink on Anti Social Behaviour Orders if it wants to avoid a prison service meltdown.

Jonathan Taylor said that "a large proportion" of the prison population were inside because they had breached an ASBO.

His claims come after it was revealed there have been more than 1,000 breaches of ASBOs in Lancashire between 2000 and 2006.

But his fears have been dismissed by Blackburn MP and justice minister Jack Straw, who introduced ASBOs during his time as Home Secretary.

And Lancashire police said ASBOs are only ever used as a "last resort" for persistent offenders - and work successfully to tackle crime.

Mr Taylor said: "We are returning to the days when one third of the prison population was fine defaulters and eventually a whole new approach to that problem had to be adopted.

"Ultimately the Government has to decide whether it is going to build more prisons and keep jailing people for breaching their ASBO or takes a new stance on this particular problem."

He said that often a minor breach of an ASBO is enough for the courts to sentence someone to a prison term.

Mr Taylor said that the breaches often amount to no more than a charge of being found drunk and incapable.

He added: "In the past offenders would have been arrested, spent a few hours in a police cell and then sent on their way with a fine.

"Now they faces a custodial sentence because their ASBO has made non-imprisonable behaviour an imprisonable offence."

Mr Straw said: "I strongly disagree with this solicitor's comments. The fact that people are being sent to prison shows that they are being enforced properly. People who observe the terms of their ASBO and behave like everyone else will not be punished.

"It is simply not the case that prisons are full of people who have breached an ASBO."

Latest Home Office figures reveal there were 1,183 breaches of ASBOs in Lancashire between 2000 and 2006.

The percentage of ASBOs breached by 10 to 17-year-olds in the county stands at 71 per cent - 10 per cent above the national average.

And 41 per cent of adults breached orders they were given.

Insp John Clucas from the Lancashire police criminal justice department said: "ASBOs are used only in the most severe of cases when all other intervention methods have failed.

"People who have an ASBO are always very persistent offenders and if someone is sent to prison for a minor breach it is likely to have been the culmination of a long line of offences.

"There are many sentencing options open to the courts for breaches of ASBOs and I would say that many are dealt with without a defendant being sent to prison.

"ASBOs work and with a lot of people it has an significant impact on their offending behaviour."

An new government initiative, announced by home secretary Jacqui Smith, will see police urged to crack down on a hard core of individuals who ignore warnings to stop their anti-social behaviour.

Building on a scheme piloted in Essex, officers will be urged to give those who persistently make their neighbours' lives hell "a taste of their own medicine" by subjecting them to repeated visits, checks and warnings.