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An end to the ASBO
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So Theresa May, Home Secretary under the coalition Conservative/Liberal-Democrat government of the United Kingdom, has now abolished the ASBO - the "antisocial behavioural order". The former Labour government had introduced a whole range of such court orders, which were always prohibitive, i.e. they could only be used to prohibit a particular offender from a particular activity, they could not be used to enforce a positive behaviour. The range of such court orders introduced by the previous government included the ASBI (antisocial behaviour injunction), the ASBO (antisocial behaviour order), the CRASBO (criminal antisocial behaviour order), and so on.
The end to the ASBO is being welcomed by police and magistrates alike -- The Magistrate's Blog has a good deal of criticism of the ASBO, and is quite happy to see the end of them, as is the blogger Inspector Gadget (though he seems to blame magistrates for them, which appears to me to be a bit unfair).
The ASBO's were never successful as a method of crime or nuisance abatement -- Theresa May said, " ... Just this morning, the latest asbo statistics have shown that breach rates have yet again increased – more than half are breached at least once; 40% are breached more than once ...".
But I do wonder what will replace them. The police bloggers complain about lack of sentencing severity, yet the previous Home Secretary, Jack Straw, asked magistrates not to send people to prison since the prisons were overcrowded -- and overcrowding of the prisons is a problem for the current government and Home Secretary too (let alone differences in custodial sentencing around the country). Given the budget cuts, there won't be any new places for prisoners.
So what happens now? Is there in fact a real problem with behaviour and crime, and if there is, how will it be dealt with?
The end to the ASBO is being welcomed by police and magistrates alike -- The Magistrate's Blog has a good deal of criticism of the ASBO, and is quite happy to see the end of them, as is the blogger Inspector Gadget (though he seems to blame magistrates for them, which appears to me to be a bit unfair).
The ASBO's were never successful as a method of crime or nuisance abatement -- Theresa May said, " ... Just this morning, the latest asbo statistics have shown that breach rates have yet again increased – more than half are breached at least once; 40% are breached more than once ...".
But I do wonder what will replace them. The police bloggers complain about lack of sentencing severity, yet the previous Home Secretary, Jack Straw, asked magistrates not to send people to prison since the prisons were overcrowded -- and overcrowding of the prisons is a problem for the current government and Home Secretary too (let alone differences in custodial sentencing around the country). Given the budget cuts, there won't be any new places for prisoners.
So what happens now? Is there in fact a real problem with behaviour and crime, and if there is, how will it be dealt with?
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My idea, is that instead of testing on animals we should test drugs on prisoners. And they should bring back the death penalty. And I know people will argue about the death penalty, but what's the point in keeping people in prison if they've got a life sentence anyway. It's a waste of time and money.Posted 29-Jul-2010 at 12:11 PM (12:11) by MidnightWolf 
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This might go wonky if it's Ritalin or Viagra.Quote:Originally Posted by MidnightWolf
My idea, is that instead of testing on animals we should test drugs on prisoners.
Inspector Gadget would approve, probably. Certainly, some commentators on his blog would.Quote:And they should bring back the death penalty.
Not going to get into that. But I might do some blog posts later on the subject.Quote:And I know people will argue about the death penalty, but what's the point in keeping people in prison if they've got a life sentence anyway. It's a waste of time and money.Posted 29-Jul-2010 at 02:17 PM (14:17) by Gurdur 
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Of course, the wrongly convicted might object to being executed straight away.
It's not like you can dig them up, dust them off, plug them into household current and send them on their way with an apology and a box of biscuits.
Posted 29-Jul-2010 at 05:31 PM (17:31) by Unregistered -
The Scotsman Newspaper is reporting that Scotland's going to keep them http://news.scotsman.com/news/Scotla...ion.6445821.jpPosted 29-Jul-2010 at 05:37 PM (17:37) by lifelinking
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Better to test drugs and non-essential products like cosmetics on volunteers, I think. Using prisoners for whatever crap a corporation wants to churn out is going to create an environment for horrible human rights abuses.
Posted 29-Jul-2010 at 06:47 PM (18:47) by Unregistered -
Also true, if lacking on providing entertainment for the crowd.Quote:Originally Posted by Unregistered
Of course, the wrongly convicted might object to being executed straight away.
It's not like you can dig them up, dust them off, plug them into household current and send them on their way with an apology and a box of biscuits.
And to think I thought ASBO's were rather a dry subject. What with the next comment I will be answering below, this post of mine has garnered the fastest responses from the Unregistered public.
Like I said, I might blog on this subject. I came across some interesting stats on the death penalty and differentials in sentencing in the USA. It's worthy of a couple of blog posts.
But given how this one has turned out, I wonder if a blog post of mine on the death penalty will get commentators talking about ASBO's?Posted 29-Jul-2010 at 08:25 PM (20:25) by Gurdur
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Well of course. Plus testing of cosmetics on prisoners does seem rather "cruel and unusual punishment", doesn't it?Quote:Originally Posted by Unregistered
Better to test drugs and non-essential products like cosmetics on volunteers, I think. Using prisoners for whatever crap a corporation wants to churn out is going to create an environment for horrible human rights abuses.
Posted 29-Jul-2010 at 08:27 PM (20:27) by Gurdur
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Interesting. I wonder if Inspector Gadget will blame the magistrates for that one, or the north as such.Quote:Originally Posted by lifelinking
The Scotsman Newspaper is reporting that Scotland's going to keep them http://news.scotsman.com/news/Scotla...ion.6445821.jp
BTW, Theresa May said:All that sounds to me like:Quote:"We must turn the system on its head. There is no magic Whitehall lever we can pull simply to stop antisocial behaviour - no magic button to stop the flow of misery.
The solution to your community's problems will not come from officials sitting in the Home Office working on the latest national action plan.
We will put power into the hands of our citizens and we will put our trust into the professionals. We will back those who step in when it is right to do so and we will support people so that they are willing and able to reclaim their communities. ......
We need a complete change in emphasis, with communities working with the police and other agencies to stop bad behaviour escalating that far."
SPENDING CUTS
I wonder if ASBO's could be replaced by offenders being used for testing of cosmetics. No, possibly, that kind of out-of-the-box thinking should go back in the box and be buried.
Ignore me, I am feeling very silly.Posted 29-Jul-2010 at 08:31 PM (20:31) by Gurdur
Updated 29-Jul-2010 at 08:40 PM (20:40) by Gurdur -
"My idea, is that instead of testing on animals we should test drugs on prisoners. And they should bring back the death penalty. And I know people will argue about the death penalty, but what's the point in keeping people in prison if they've got a life sentence anyway. It's a waste of time and money."
My god. I hope you are joking and I have missed some kind of comic subtext. I would rather think my English was lacking than someone actually believed such things.Posted 29-Jul-2010 at 11:12 PM (23:12) by Unregistered -
I am actually with Midnightwolf on the death penalty, though IMHO there's also a lot of shit that's illegal, and which have people sitting in jail over it, which is just rediculous.
When you can get a longer prison sentence over lighting up a joint than you would get for killing someone the only way, there's something wrong. The only way that's not wrong is if the one doing the killing ends up having an execution.
On the other hand, at least here in the US, education and loosening up laws that aren't doing anyone any good anyways would go a long way towards emptying prisons.
*waits for the flameage*Posted 30-Jul-2010 at 03:27 AM (03:27) by Makbawehuh
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Test the drugs and products on your politicians.
Posted 30-Jul-2010 at 04:40 AM (04:40) by Unregistered -
Ever since Bush and his bunch of damn crooks, I don't trust any of this shit.
Posted 30-Jul-2010 at 04:43 AM (04:43) by Unregistered -
I think it's bs. Everyone assumes the poor person is guilty because all he can get is a dipshit public defender who doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground. But somebody like OJ can hire a whole army of lawyers and get away with murder. Or do you think nobody ever gets screwed over by the courts?
Posted 30-Jul-2010 at 04:56 AM (04:56) by Unregistered -
Posted 30-Jul-2010 at 02:42 PM (14:42) by Gurdur
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