The Government boasted today that take-up of its flagship measure to tackle yobbishness has doubled recently.
The number of Anti-Social Behaviour Orders handed out in the last quarter of 2004 was 786, more than double the amount issued in the equivalent months in 2003.
In total, 4,649 have been issued in England and Wales since the Labour Government introduced them in 1999, nearly half of them to children aged 17 and younger.
News that Asbos were at last starting to come into more widespread use came as police questioned five teenagers - two of them girls aged 14 and 15 - over an incident in which a man was beaten to death outside a pizza parlour on Monday night.
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Yesterday Michael Carroll, a former dustman who won a £9.7 million National Lottery jackpot three years ago became the latest person to be issued with an Asbo after Kings Lynn magistrates heard he went on a vandalism spree earlier this month, causing £3,000 damage by firing ball bearings at cars and windows as he was driven along in a black Mercedes with the number plate L11 OUT. Carroll, 22, who has homes in Downham Market and Swaffham, Norfolk, was also ordered to pay £3,628.97 compensation and to carry out 240 hours’ unpaid community work.
Publishing the latest statistics on Asbos, the Home Office revealed that courts in Manchester had issued the highest number (710), followed by London (448), West Yorkshire (361) and the West Midlands (342).
Today’s data did not include details of how many Asbos have been breached, but figures published in March showed the proportion of youths who broke the terms of their Asbos had increased to more than four out of 10.
As concern mounts about apparently increasing levels of youth violence, the Government also announced moves to give extra protection to vulnerable witnesses in Asbo cases. They will become eligible for so-called “special measures” in court, allowing them to give evidence from behind screens or by video links.
The Government has also lifted the automatic reporting restrictions to allow the local media to give details of those who breach their Asbos.
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And in a further measure to divert young people from yobbishness and crime, funding for Individual Support Orders for young people between the ages of 10 and 17 - orders to direct the child to activities and support, which can be attached to Asbos to combat the causes of their bad behaviour - will be increased by £500,000.
Ms Blears said: “Anti-social behaviour is a menace for many people and it needs to be dealt with swiftly and effectively.
“Asbos make a real difference to people’s lives by helping to rebuild confidence in communities and bringing the actions of a selfish minority to task. The statistics published today show that local authorities are responding enthusiastically to the powers available to them.”
She went on: “We also realise that it can be difficult for victims and witnesses to come forward to report anti-social behaviour. That is why we introduced new witness protection measures in the Serious and Organised Crime and Police Act that will come into force on Friday.”
Ms Blears today visited Newham Youth Offending Service to see its work and to meet parents who are taking part in the parenting programme, as well as young victims in the Victim Support Scheme. When asked about the incidents in Manchester and Cornwall, she replied: “Some of the incidents we have seen happening this week are serious criminal assaults, not simply low-level anti-social behaviour.”
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She said the orders were among a range of ways which could be used to intervene and make sure things don’t get “completely out of hand”. She said the “lawless minority had to get the message very loud and very clear”.
Ms Blears said she didn’t for one moment pretend the problem had been solved but she quoted statistics which showed the proportion of people who viewed anti-social behaviour as a really big problem had come down from 23 per cent a couple of years ago to 16 per cent.