LONDON – A teenager is forbidden to say “grass.” A great-grandfather is banned from being sarcastic. And two record companies are told not to put up advertising posters.
All have fallen foul of the British government’s latest weapon against petty crime, vandalism and hooliganism – the anti-social behavior order, known popularly as ASBO.
Prime Minister Tony Blair on Tuesday hailed the growing use of the orders as a response to the concerns of voters who live in the less genteel parts of Britain – where disputes are more likely to end in a head-butt than a biting witticism.
“It doesn’t always get the headlines, but if you’ve got really difficult people living next door or down the street … it makes life absolute hell,” Blair said during a visit to Harlow, 25 miles northeast of London.
Anti-social behavior orders were introduced in 1999 to counter “loutish and unruly conduct,” and given a boost in October when the government launched an Anti-social Behavior Action Plan, vowing to tackle every- day incivilities from “nuis- ance neighbors” to begging to graffiti.
The orders have been used to ban thousands of people, some as young as 10, from associating with certain people or engaging in activities as varied as shouting, swearing, spray painting, playing loud music and walking down certain streets.
Breaching an order is a crime, punishable by up to five years in prison.
Supporters say ASBOs are a valuable tool against persistent offenders.
Some local authorities have been accused of interpreting “anti-social behavior” too broadly. In June, record companies Sony and BMG were threatened with ASBOs by a local council in north London upset that they were putting up advertising posters without authorization.
Critics say orders can be sweeping or hard to obey, like the four Manchester teenagers banned from saying “grass” – slang for “informer,” and allegedly used to intimidate neighbors – or the prolific burglar banned from visiting unannounced or phoning any house in the country for five years.
Supporters acknowledge that ASBOs function in the gray area between boorish behavior and outright crime. The British Crime Survey found that 33 percent of respondents cited teenagers “hanging around” on local streets as a big problem.
A problem, perhaps, but not a crime. Critics also point to cases like that of Alexander Muat, 87, a great-grandfather brought to court in Liverpool for breaching an ASBO that bars him from shouting, swearing or making sarcastic remarks to his neighbors.
“The last time I looked it wasn’t a crime to be sarcastic,” wrote columnist Nick Cohen in The Guardian, slamming the government for “the criminalization of everyday incivility.”
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