Our last mailing focused on asbos and young people. In this mailing we look
at the broader asbo agenda, including the latest asbo figures and the
Government’s Respect Action Plan. We’ve covered quite a lot, but please
don’t be put off by the length of the mailing as the ‘Contents’ index should
help you quickly navigate to the stuff you’re most interested in.
Contents:
Public meetings: Events in London and Manchester on Thursday 27th April
Latest asbo figures - a brief summary
Asbo News - a round up of other news about asbos
Respect Action Plan - brief analysis and comment
Public meetings
Thursday 27th April - Manchester Asboconcern “Asbos good or bad? Have your
say!”
Manchester is the capital of the asbo industry. It has imposed more than one
in seven of the total number of asbos, far outstripping any other city in
the country. Asboconcern Manchester has chosen Gorton as the venue for a
public meeting and debate about asbos - although there are few community
facilities in Gorton, a high number of Asbos and Acceptable Behaviour
Contracts have been issued there and the area is partially covered by a
dispersal zone.
A leaflet advertising the meeting has been widely circulated in the area.
Feel free to download and print out the leaflet from our website and pass it
on to friends and neighbours or around your workplace. The leaflet also
doubles up as an info-sheet on “asbos - what you should know about your
legal rights”
Street Stall - we will be running a street stall in Gorton this Saturday
(22nd April) to build awareness of the meeting. If you could give up an hour
of your time to help us distribute leaflets your support would be most
welcome.
Public meeting Time/Venue: 7pm – 9 pm at Emmanuel Church Hall on Blackwin
Street in West Gorton. Emmanuel Church can be accessed via the path that
leads into Gorton Park off Blackwin Street. Blackwin Street curves between
Belle Vue Street and Gorton Lane.
For more info: contact Ben Langley on 07810 464 887 or
[log in to unmask]
Reminder: 27th April Asbo film showing in Parliament
The Brent based Voice Of Young People Group are showing “Spotlight on Us -
Now You Know” their award winning documentary on Asbos and human rights in
parliament. All (especially young people) welcome!
Time/venue: 4.30pm-7pm in Portcullis House, Parliament Square, London. For
more information contact Beccy Palmer [log in to unmask]
Latest asbo figures:
The asbo figures issued on 30th March showed a further rise in the number or
orders imposed. 816 asbos were issued between June and July 2005 bringing
the total up to 2523. This increase is slightly less than that of the
previous two quarters, but the total for the first nine months of 2005 is
just 50 short of the 2573 asbos issued in the whole of 2004. The proportion
of asbos imposed on young people aged under 17 years remained unchanged at
43%. (see our website for more information)
The government has welcomed this continued rise in asbo use, claiming that
it shows that local authorities are cracking down on antisocial behaviour.
Asbos are also a key campaigning issue for Labour. As the starting pistol
was fired on the local election campaign, Tony Blair endorsed activists'
plans to "naming and shame" Tory and Liberal Democrat controlled councils
who have failed to impose lots of asbos. We responded by issuing a press
release drawing attention to the high breach rate and the impact that asbos
are having on vulnerable adults.
3. Respect action plan
In January, Tony Blair announced the launch of the Respect Action Plan, the
latest phase in his mission to “reclaim communities for the law-abiding
majority” and end “the culture of public disrespect” in British society.
Previously, the government had indicated that it planned to table a Respect
Bill to drive forward its antisocial behaviour agenda. We believe that is
significant that this has now been downgraded to an Action Plan. Given
recent defeats over the Terrorism Bill, we suspect that the government is
now wary of risking parliamentary scrutiny of controversial measures that
target civil liberties.
It is also notable that following opposition from cabinet ministers, the
amount of money made available for implementing the Respect agenda has been
drastically reduced to just £25 million of the £90 million that was promised
by Tony Blair last year.
The Action Plan itself is a mixture of recycled initiatives and punitive
measures designed to grab headlines. It does include some positive
developments, but there is also no mention of the current misuse of asbos on
vulnerable people such adults with mental health problems or children with
learning difficulties and the main focus is on “problem families”. A summary
of the plan highlighting the key asbo related developments is available on
the ‘resources’ page of our website
The Plan cites research first published back in December 2005 which purports
to show that the government’s approach to antisocial behaviour is working.
However, the findings of this study have been disputed by academics at the
Crime and Society Foundation and it fell a long way short of the full
independent review of asbos that Asboconcern is calling for.
Summary Justice
Perhaps more significant than the Action Plan itself was the accompanying
speech by the Prime Minister in which he declared “we are fighting 21st
century crime with 19th century methods.”
Despite acknowledging that crime is falling, Blair claimed that the
traditional criminal justice system is too costly, too slow, and too soft on
criminals to deal with the scale, organization and nature of “modern” crimes
– which he believes, includes spitting, graffiti, petty vandalism, drug
dealing and assault!
Welcoming the use of asbos and on the spot fines, Blair argued that the
“rules of the game” must change. This means more “summary justice” measures
which reverse the burden of proof so that those accused of crime or
antisocial behaviour have to prove their innocence to avoid punishment.
These are worrying statements which indicate that the Prime Minister’s
enthusiasm for asbos shows no signs of abating. You can read a thorough
rebuttal of Blair’s arguments for asbos and summary justice in 'Asbomania':
from social and natural justice to mob rule? (pdf file) by Shami Chakrabati,
the Director of Liberty.
Asbo News
‘Is This The Way To Asbo-rillo?’
A mother of three has been given an antisocial behaviour order for
repeatedly playing the song (Is This The Way) To Amarillo at high volume.
Ill woman given Asbo or repeatedly trying to drown herself
A woman has received an asbo disallowing her from going to the seafront in
Aberystwyth. She was given the order due to trying to drown herself 36 times
in the sea. She said that pain from hip problems had driven her to her
actions.
Judges rule against “too vague” asbos
Two High Court judges ruled against an asbo which prohibited a Manchester
teenager from acting, or encouraging others to act, “in an antisocial manner
in the city of Manchester” for a period of two years. They said that it was
inappropriate for the courts to issue orders that lacked clarity and that
simply banned individuals from acting “in an antisocial manner” The teenager
had been given a 12-month supervision order plus a month’s curfew with an
electronic tag from 9pm to 7am for breaching the order.
Judge rules on evidence in “Crasbo” cases
In a recent ‘asbo on conviction’ (crasbo) case involving some one who was
given an asbo whilst serving a custodial sentence for a robbery, the judge
ruled that it was wrong in principle to impose a crasbo if the basis for it
was merely the robbery offence. In addition, they ruled that although
hearsay evidence may be used in crasbo cases, specific incidents of
antisocial behaviour must be proved to the criminal standard before a crasbo
is imposed.
Police Asbo powers are curbed
Police powers to tackle street disturbances under the Antisocial Behaviour
Act were curbed when the High Court ruled that specific reasons must be
given for their use. A 20 year old woman, successfully appealed against her
conviction for defying an order to disperse from the Shiregreen area of
Sheffield on the ground that no reasons were given.
If you would like to give feedback about this mailing or you have any
suggestions for items to include in the next mailing please email us.
For more information about the campaign visit our website
www.asboconcern.org.uk
You can register your support for the campaign there by signing up to our
Campaign Statement.
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