by TheJusticeofthePeace @ 29.
Nov. 2010. – 14:22:29
Any policy groups that are considering the establishment of a new policy or organisation are well advised to put the ease of memorising or uniqueness of phonetics of the proposed organisation`s acronym at the top of their agenda. As an example ASBO must be a marketeer`s delight. But as with all fashions ASBOs are yesterday’s news and if Theresa May hasn`t had a change of mind they will be history before the next election. Their peak year was 2005 when 4,122 were issued in England and Wales. In 2008, the latest year for which figures are available, the number issued was 2,027. If we assume there are about 330 magistrates` courts it doesn`t take an Einstein to calculate about six ASBOs were issued at each over twelve months. That explains why most magistrates have not sat on such matters. But those who have make for some interesting reports.
It is reported in Peterborough that a 19 year old recidivist has breached seven times and has been handed down another Order. This is the world gone mad. An individual with this record of disregard for court orders should be in safe, secure accommodation. There is no way to disguise the ineffectiveness of ASBOs especially as seen by the public and whilst it is premature to discuss bringing back the stocks to indicate public humiliation for offenders the law abiding majority must have confidence in the justice system.
Two teenagers from the Swindon area were last week denied that public humiliation under [presumably] a sect 39 order protecting them from identification after each was made subject to an ASBO as a result of causing harassment, alarm or distress. Why such consideration to their sensitivity was given escapes me. They were not innocent children involved in a serious adult case. They were young criminals and should be treated as such. Public respect for the law is not helped by such decisions.
Some courts are more aware of their public duty and of the value of publicly naming young offenders subjected to an ASBO. Colleagues at Trafford Magistrates` Court inflicted a five year ASBO on an eleven year old who, unless major changes take place in his upbringing, is statistically heading for a lifetime of crime. Whether the terms of the ASBO are realistic is another matter. It is however an awful blot on our supposed compassionate society that this child whether through nature or nurture or a combination of both is in such a position.
It was interesting to read that the city of Birmingham has an Anti-Social Behaviour Unit. It was incredible to read, until it closes down in a few months, that that “unit” employs 58 people. The West Midlands Constabulary which includes Birmingham, Dudley, Walsall, Wolverhampton and Oldbury, Coventry, Solihull, Chelmsley Wood, Sutton Coldfield and Halesowen. is made up of 8,593 police officers, supported by 4,271 police staff, 612 special constables and 793 police community support officers (PCSOs) to police a population of 2.6 million. Perhaps somebody can make sense of 58 soon to be unemployed people comprising an “ASBO unit”.
Society needs to be protected from bad people. Some of these might be capable of rehabilitation and some cannot. Currently attempts to divine the can be from the never can be are as scientific as reading tea leaves. Prison is a last resort as far as magistrates are concerned. For those who continually denigrate courts for the imposition of short sentences perhaps a job as a manager of a sub post office for a few weeks dealing with petty shoplifters [thieves] or living as a tenant in a council tower block for a few nights where drug dealing and possession is endemic would open their eyes to a world where incarceration of offenders is the only protection against such misery for those who don`t read the Guardian, don`t eulogize the peasant diet and life style of Tuscany and prefer Nescafe to green tea in the evening.
