ASBOs - Not Just Useless, But Counter-Productive
An ASBO makes a criminal?
Young people are being named and shamed by the orders which may lead them pursue criminal careers later on in life, he claims.
Neil Wain, a chief superintendent for Greater Manchester police, says that young offenders should instead get more help to stop them re-offending.
He is thought to be the most senior police officer so far to have criticised the Government’s initiative, which was introduced in 2003 as part of the Respect Agenda.
His calls come following a survey of offenders he carried out with Cambridge University which showed that young people were repeatedly breaching the orders and being stigmatised as criminals. (The Telegraph)
So instead of just being useless - as ASBOs are regarded as a trophy by some young offenders, and are continually breached with little comeuppance - they are actually counter-productive, and cause young people to become criminals because they are labelled as such.
When a system invented to reduce crime and to prevent anti-social behaviour doesn’t achieve it’s aim, then it has failed. When they are deemed so useless as to be regarded as a trophy by many who get them, it has really failed. But when it actually achieves the complete opposite of it’s aim - causing criminals and criminal behaviour rather than stopping or preventing it - it has failed absolutely and in every way imaginable.
ASBOs cannot be seen as anything other than a complete and absolute failure. Scrap them and put more police - not the “plastic plods” PCSOs, but real police - back on the street.
Images: “ASBO Yob” Hoodie, “ASBO Pride” badge, merged by ThunderDragon
Source: The Telegraph
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