Order to replace ASBO welcome in East Lancashire (From Lancashire Telegraph)
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Order to replace ASBO welcome in East Lancashire
2:00pm Wednesday 23rd May 2012 in News
By Vanessa Cornall, Crime reporter
MINISTERS Theresa May and Jack Straw
PLANS to scrap anti-social behaviour orders have been given a cautious welcome in East Lancashire.
The Government is now proposing to bring in a new Criminal Behaviour Order to ban an individual from particular activities or places.
And civil Crime Prevention Injunctions (CPI) are also expected to be brought in to give agencies an immediate power to protect victims and communities by stopping bad behaviour before it escalates.
The lower standard of proof for civil orders such as the CPI means they can be put in place in days or even hours.
A ‘community trigger’ would also force the police, councils and other agencies to act automatically after receiving several complaints about the same thing.
Blackburn MP Jack Straw, who brought in ASBOs as Home Secretary in 1999, said the current minister Theresa May could be tackling the issue from the wrong angle.
He said: “I am going to judge these changes when I have read all of the small print.
“These orders were invented for Blackburn and they have made a phenomenal difference to peace and quiet in our neighbourhoods.
“They have also made a major contribution to the reduction of crime and disorder in the last 15 years.
“If Mrs May is reinvesting ASBOs for the better then fine, but I think she is starting from the wrong point. She has bought into a lot of liberal nonsense, which is indulgent of the victim. I just hope she finds the right point.”
Andrew Stephenson, MP for Pendle, said: “On the face of it this is going to make it easier and faster to bring the culprits of anti-social behaviour to count.
“I welcome the fact it is being piloted, and the fact it is being piloted in Manchester as a start, so we can see from a fairly local point of view how it works.”
The new proposals are being piloted in Manchester, Brighton and Hove and West Lindsey, in Lincolnshire, from 1 June.
Comments(4)
midas
says...
3:01pm Wed 23 May 12
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Evidence still needs to be gathered, statements still need to be written and the Court need to find time to hear the case or are you saying that because the threshold is lower the standard of behaviour doesn't have to be as anti social as it was before?
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This community trigger is also a misnomer. The trigger for investigation should be one complaint, not three!
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Another worry is that juviniles breaching the Injunction will be punished by.....going to an attendance centre for 2 hours every other Saturday!!
Keep Darwen Green
says...
3:01pm Wed 23 May 12
Caspar the ghost wrote:Agreed been saying bring back the stocks for ages.
Another paper threat that will not mean that justice will be seen to be done.
Yet again a waste of space. Bring back instant corporal punishment or even the stocks (there use to be a pair in Huncoat!). That is about the only thing that will bring back some form of control of todays idiots.
Izanears
says...
4:39pm Wed 23 May 12
Caspar the ghost says...
2:55pm Wed 23 May 12
Yet again a waste of space. Bring back instant corporal punishment or even the stocks (there use to be a pair in Huncoat!). That is about the only thing that will bring back some form of control of todays idiots.