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 Lord Phillip |
Asbos have a limited role, top judge warns
Lord Chief Justice admits dealers can move elsewhere
THE Lord Chief Justice – England’s top judge – has admitted that Asbos are not a “foolproof way” of stopping low-level crime.
In an exclusive interview with the New Journal, Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, who lives in Belsize Park, acknowledged there were “limitations” in what can be achieved by anti-social behaviour orders.
Lord Phillips’ comments on Asbos come as politicians claim many young people now see the orders as a “badge of honour” and that the crime-fighting tool is no longer effective. The Lord Chief Justice said: “There are obviously limitations as to what Asbos can achieve. If you have geographical Asbos I can quite see there may be a possibility they will be displaced and carry on in the same way somewhere else. That isn’t satisfactory.”
Increasing numbers of prostitutes and drug dealers are escaping their Asbo restrictions in Camden by operating in neighbouring Islington.
Lord Phillips said: “I’m not sure there is a foolproof way of imposing a blanket restriction which would ensure that people behaving badly did not behave badly anywhere else in the British Isles.”
He added: “If the police can provide more constables on the beat this must be beneficial but wherever anyone looks one comes across a problem of this sort.”
The Lord Chief Justice, who went undercover to do a community service stint with young offenders in Milton Keynes, added that the problem of knife-carrying youths needed to be addressed.
However, he believes jail terms for people caught carrying knives are already long enough.
Lord Phillips said: “I don’t myself believe the sentences are too light. It’s quite unusual that someone gets the maximum sentence they could do for carrying an offensive weapon.
“What’s more important is that there’s a real risk that if they go out with a knife then somebody is going to catch them. If they don’t think they are going to be caught, they’re not going to pay too much attention to the maximum penalty.”
Speaking at the opening of Clerkenwell and Shoreditch County Court in Finsbury on Friday, the Lord Chief Justice voiced support for Islington Pastor Gavin Jacobs’ idea that reformed gangsters could steer teenagers away from street crime.
He said: “There’s nothing really better than someone who has been a criminal and really reformed and seen the error of his ways for getting across to other people that the way they’re behaving is foolish.”
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