Why? They were introduced to give the courts and police more powers to prevent repeated antisocial behaviour - the sort of which, individual case by individual case, might only result in minor fines and not stop the behaviour. i.e. fining a nuisance neighbour but being unable to stop future behaviour.
It’s generally used to control horrible teenagers who hang around on street corners, abusing old women and making the neighbourhood hell. Individually they may not be committing awful crimes that result in custodial sentences, but continued behaviour like this can make everyone else’s life a misery. I think they’re a good thing.
This ASBO is not about the girl drinking, it’s about her being a nuisance to everyone else. If she wants to sit on her sofa and drink herself to death, that’s her lookout.
I see some utility for the practice. However, I don’t want even repeat offenders punished for being in a particular place (unless they are trespassing) or wearing a particular article of clothing; I want the government to punish individuals for infractions they actually commit. (It is appropriate to punish repeat offenses more severely.)
I would also be uncomfortable allowing my government to determine whether or not a nuisance qualifies as requisite antisocial behavior for an ABSO on a case-by-case basis.
My understanding is that in many cases Asbos are abused, issued to people who really haven’t done anything wrong but have had some nosy neighbour or someone else decided to complain about nothing. When the defendant is from an unpopular group (such as teenagers), judges tend to give more weight to the complainant’s word. And then the recipient of the behavioural order, despite possibly not having done anything wrong, ends up saddled with conditions that they must follow or commit a crime. I see it as a point on a slide toward a police state.
Sounds like this program is aimed at keeping these people out of jail, which is where they’d likely end up under our system. That saves a ton of money, and could really turn some people’s lives around. Sure, people would flout and abuse the hell out of it, but say you issued 100,000 of these per year, nationwide, and they really profoundly changed the lives of 1% of those people. That’s 1,000 people. That’s cool to me. I’d have to know more about it before I made up my mind, but it sounds pretty swell to me.
Half of the abuses of Asbos turn out to be bullshit if you dig deeper. The Mail reported a guy had been given an Asbo for repeatedly whistling at an elderly couple. Only at the end of the article did it mention that the guy had been given an Asbo for harassment, as they were made prisoners in their own homes, unable to leave their home without him following them whistling the Addams family theme for four years.
NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition! Our chief weapon is surprise…surprise and fear…fear and surprise… Our two weapons are fear and surprise…and ruthless efficiency… Our three weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency…and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope… Our four…no… Amongst our weapons… Amongst our weaponry…are such elements as fear, surprise… I’ll come in again.
