Antisocial Behaviour

: I entirely understand the frustration felt in those circumstances. There is still an educative job to be done with some sections of the ASBO procedure. We heard of places in which good efforts have been made to educate magistrates and others at local level, so that they understand what the history is likely to be before an offender appears in front of them with respect to an ASBO or an ASBO breach. It is still clear to us that there are other parts of the criminal justice system where sentencers do not understand the significance of someone coming forward with such an offence, although I am sure that that is improving month by month. Such sentencing problems are not new, as there were similar problems when football banning orders were introduced. It took a long time for several magistrates to understand how the law was meant to operate. I am sure that we will get there, but it is important to highlight frustrating cases as examples of what goes wrong.