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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
National
Alan Weston

What happened to ASBOs and what they stopped people from doing

In the fast-moving world of anti-social behaviour and attempts to stamp it out, legal penalties have gone under a number of official names - the most famous being the ASBO.

The ECHO reported yesterday (Thursday) how a 10-year-old boy, who was one of the youngest people ever to receive an anti-social behaviour order, went on to become a teenage drugs gang boss but got stabbed 27 times with a machete.

Alfie Hodgin's dealing was uncovered by police after they found him lying in the street in a pool of his own blood. The vicious assault had been an act of "retribution" after the 18-year-old had stolen drugs and a graft phone belonging to the county lines operation he had previously been working for.

READ MORE : 'One in a million' mum mauled to death by dogs

Hodgin was locked up for two-and-a-half years on Wednesday after being caught with more than £2,000 of heroin and crack cocaine while "slumped on the floor covered in blood" following the vicious attack in Ellesmere Port town centre on July 14 this year.

The teenager's involvement in the criminal justice system began at an alarmingly young age. In December 2014, when he was only 10, Hodgin was handed an ASBO at Wirral Magistrates' Court after "terrorising the community".

In that case, he would have been one of the last to receive an "ASBO", which were abolished in 2014 to be replaced by Civil Injunctions and Criminal Behaviour Orders (CBOs).

Antisocial behaviour orders were used to stop anyone aged 10 or over from harassing, causing alarm or distress to other people who aren't in the same household. An order could be issued for at least two years and lists what they must stop doing.

The order told people what they must stop doing and can tell them to stay away from certain places, not to contact or see named people and to stop doing certain activities.

Police, councils and some other organisations can apply to court to give a Civil Injunction to anyone over 10 years old for anti-social behaviour such as graffiti, bullying, and a range of nuisances relating to dogs, drugs, alcohol, noise, and cars, such as road racing.

Criminal Behaviour Orders (CBOs) are made after someone has been convicted of a crime, such as a hate crime, criminal damage, assault, verbal abuse, vandalism, or "any other criminal offence."

Both these categories are similar to the way ASBOs worked. There were two types of ASBO, which were handed to people either on application (for a civil injunction), or on conviction (for a criminal behaviour order).

However it is now actually easier for the authorities to obtain a Civil Injunction or CBO than it was to obtain an ASBO, because there is no need to prove that the court needs to make an order to stop or prevent anti-social behaviour.

In many cases, the court can make an order if they simply think it will help stop or prevent anti-social behaviour.

Another difference between ASBOs and CBOs is that CBOs can include "positive requirements" which force you to do something (instead of just stopping you from doing things). An example of a positive requirement might be to attend a course, such as a dog training class.

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