Councils yet to issue ASBO to under-16 in 'neds crackdown'

Published on Sunday 27 February 2005 00:13

TOUGH new measures to crack down on youth crime were last night called into question after it emerged local authorities are failing to use them.

Councils have been given the power to hand out anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs) to children under the age of 16 committing nuisance crimes as part of Jack McConnell’s crusade against ‘neds’.

But yesterday the Scottish Executive admitted that four months into the scheme not one young thug has been subject to the order.

McConnell has championed ASBOs as a means of cracking down on individuals who cause chaos in the community. The orders allow courts to place restrictions on individuals, such as banning them from certain areas or approaching certain people.

In October, under the Antisocial Behaviour Act, they were extended to 12 to 15-year-olds.

Last year, McConnell described the measures contained in the antisocial behaviour bill as "absolutely vital if we are to win our fight against the mindless hooligans who spoil so many lives".

But yesterday the Executive said local authorities had not handed out any orders so far. A Scottish Executive spokesman said: "The powers have been there since October but no one has used them yet."

The admission has angered critics, who say the real problem facing Scotland’s neighbourhoods is a lack of visible police presence.

Local authorities said the reason behind councils failing to use the orders was that they had so far been deemed unnecessary.

A spokesman for the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities said: "These are one of many measures available to councils and they are a power, not a duty. The use of ASBOs is an operational matter for individual councils. The fact that they have not yet been used for under-16s is more to do with the fact that they will not have seen them as necessary, not a case of councils being too soft."

But Scottish Conservative justice spokeswoman Annabel Goldie said: "All the new powers in the world are never going to have an impact if there are not enough police on the streets in communities deterring criminals and stopping crime.

"That is still the fundamental issue that the Executive refuses to get to grips with. Until there are more police on the streets we will never reclaim them for the law-abiding majority."

Kenny MacAskill, the SNP justice spokesman, said ASBOs were not the only answer for unruly teenagers. He said: "I can see some circumstances where ASBOs may be beneficial but the idea that they would be some sort of magic bullet is absurd. If children’s behaviour is so bad, they should be sent to residential secure units."

Scottish councils and housing associations made 434 applications for the orders for over-16s between December 2000 and March 2004 - an average of fewer than 150 per year. Of these, only 315 were actually imposed by the courts.