Asbo for adults: Doubts cast over respect orders

Doubts have been cast over government plans to introduce a version of the Anti-social Behaviour Order (Asbo) for adults.

Respect orders will be introduced as part of the forthcoming Crime and Policing Bill, with Home Secretary Yvette Cooper describing them as "a modernised version" of the Asbo, giving police "stronger powers".

Asbos were introduced in the 1990s, but scrapped by the 2010 coalition government.

Marjorie Brabazon, a former Hull councillor and youth worker, believes the focus should be on steering young people away from a future life of crime.

The government said the new orders would give police and local councils "powers to ban persistent offenders from town centres or from drinking in public spots where they have caused misery to local people".

Breaching the orders will be a criminal offence, carrying a prison sentence of up to two years, with courts also able to issue unlimited fines or order offenders to carry out unpaid work.

Ms Brabazon said Asbos did not work, suggesting respect orders could also prove ineffective.

Rather than focusing on adult offenders, she wants to see authorities tackling tomorrow's criminals.

Ms Brabazon said: "Some young people would wear it as a badge of honour, like 'Oh look I've got another Asbo', sort of thing... and that would progress and that young person would get to the age where they would end up having a prison sentence.

"We need police on our streets, we need police who can engage with the young people, we need more youth provision, more youth workers on the street."

Cooper said the government was promising 13,000 more neighbourhood police and community support officers, who would be focused on targeting the most prolific offenders in a bid to "help this government deliver on our mission to take back our streets".

Paul Dolan, head coach of City of Hull Boxing Club, which works with young people in one of the city's most deprived areas, agreed with Ms Brabazon's view that preventative work could pack more of a punch than the issuing of orders later down the line.

He said: "The government needs to invest in these sorts of places and give them the funding so that we can carry on.

"We work on shoestrings, just with a few subs coming in, putting a few shows on, we have to pay the rents.

"But if we've got some proper funding then you can get more kids and you can do more things with them. You can educate them all."

One person who has already benefited from that approach is Harry Edgecumbe, 25, who harbours hopes of becoming a boxing champion.

He said: "A lot of my friends had Asbos. Back in that era, you were proud to have one. If you had an Asbo you were the cool one."

Mr Edgecumbe said he was "hanging around with the wrong crowd" before he joined a boxing gym.

"Getting myself into the gym was probably the best thing I ever did," he said. "I met a lot of good coaches along the way and a lot of new friends.

"It got me off the streets. As soon as you come through the doors, you're at home. It's the best feeling ever."

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