Hooligans face two years in jail as ‘respect orders’ target anti-social behaviour

Hooligans face two years in jail for breaching newly unveiled “respect orders” designed to crack down on anti-social behaviour.

Courts could also hand out unlimited fines, order unpaid work or impose a curfew on those who break the rules.

The measures – set out in Labour’s election manifesto as part of a bid to “return law and order to our streets” – aim to nip the worst behaviour in the bud, the Home Office said.

Too many neighbourhoods are “plagued by anti-social behaviour,” Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said, which “can have a devastating impact on victims”.

“This cannot be allowed to continue,” she added.

She told Sky News the measure is a “modernised version of ASBOs” – anti-social behaviour orders brought in by Tony Blair’s Labour government in 1999 – that were replaced by the Conservatives in 2014 by civil injunctions and criminal behaviour orders.

If the plans – part of a Crime and Policing Bill – pass, councils and police will have the power to ban persistent offenders from town centres, with officers free to arrest anyone breaching their order.

To address the root causes of their behaviour, perpetrators could also be told to attend anger management classes or receive drug and alcohol treatment.

Officers would not need to give a warning before seizing vehicles, a move the Home Office said will help police tackle the “scourge” of off-road bikes in parks and e-scooters on pavements.

The measures will be trialled if the bill passes, before the rules are enforced across England and Wales.

Ms Cooper told Sky News the respect orders will be combined with additional neighbourhood police “because I think communities feel really let down by persistent anti-social behaviour”.

“That is not fair, and the government’s on the community’s side,” she said.

“We want to support people against the kind of blight and harassment they’re dealing with.”

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Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “As director of public prosecutions, I saw the terrible effect of anti-social behaviour first hand – and fought for justice for victims.

“As prime minister, I am delivering on my promise to tackle it with new respect orders, so people face the consequences of their actions.”

Harvinder Saimbhi, chief executive of victim support charity ASB Help, said the group welcomes “the approach of addressing the root causes of the anti-social behaviour”.

“We are keen to see how the respect orders will be implemented,” he added.

In the year to September 2023, about a million anti-social behaviour incidents were reported to police.

Deputy Chief Constable Andy Prophet, who leads the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s work on anti-social behaviour, said respect orders will “give the police and councils the ability to crack down on those who persistently make our streets and public spaces feel unsafe”.