Yobs Turning Cities Into No Go Areas

Updated: 08:01, Tuesday July 24, 2007

Town and city centres are becoming no go areas after dark, with drunken yobs behaving like "an occupying army", MPs have warned.

Asbos a way of life for many

The Commons Public Accounts Committee issued a hard-hitting report which warned that a small proportion of families and individuals were causing "misery and despair" to communities, particularly in the most deprived areas.

Committee chairman Edward Leigh called for "absolutely rigorous" action against a hardcore of offenders who regarded anti-social behaviour orders as "part and parcel of their way of life".

The report criticised the Home Office for failing to carry out adequate research into which measures worked best in tackling and preventing bad behaviour.

It found that 65% of people stopped misbehaving after a single intervention - often a simple warning letter.

Some 93% of those studied had given up anti-social behaviour after three brushes with the authorities, but a hardcore continued regardless.

Just 20% of the individuals accounted for more than half of the interventions and, among this group, those with convictions had an average of 50 each.

One person had 271 criminal convictions and had breached his Asbo 25 times.

Mr Leigh said: "Behaviour ranges from drunken skylarking and intimidation to out-and-out criminal activity.

"No civilised country should have to put up with what can seem like an occupying army loose in the streets."

He said the financial cost of responding to such anti-social behaviour was £3.4bn a year.