Thousands of asylum-seekers are being unlawfully locked up and left to languish in detention, a report from Amnesty International warns today. Detainees have been incarcerated for up to two years, resulting in "untold suffering".Amnesty uncovered accusations of inmates being treated inhumanely and shunted around between Britain's 10 detention centres. There have usually been a range of interventions to attempt to modify behaviour."There's no evidence that Asbos are leading to an increase in youth custody. As long as a young person abides by the order, there are no further consequences and they will not get a criminal record."Asbos are not the first stop on the line.
Ms Chakrabarti said: "We are aware of anecdotal evidence of Asbos being treated as a badge of honour. If that is so, then what must be the principal purpose of Asbos, deterrence from antisocial behaviour, is undermined. Displacement of aggressive youths from one estate to a neighbouring one does not address the cause of their behaviour."Earlier this year, the Home Affairs Select Committee concluded that the Government's Asbo policy was about right.A spokesman for the Home Office said: "Asbos are about the protection of the community They are civil orders, not criminal. Asbos were not designed with children in mind."In the six years since the first Asbos were granted, evidence is emerging that they no longer have a deterrent impact on antisocial behaviour. Children are more likely to breach an order - resulting in a criminal record - than an adult, figures show.Liberty has told the Commons Select Committee on Home Affairs that such an "indiscriminate and excessive" use of the legislation is "undermining any benefit they might bring".
In many cases, an Asbo against a child is now accompanied by a naming and shaming order.The Children's Society has said that it is "very concerned about the Government policy to "name and shame" children who receive Asbos. Liz Lovell, a policy adviser at the society, said: "The policy is not only counter-productive, it puts children and young people at risk. We are also opposed to the proposed extension of this policy in the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill."Although an Asbo is a civil order, breaching it is a criminal offence, the penalty for which can be imprisonment. He said no juvenile under 16 should be at risk of imprisonment for breaching an antisocial behaviour order. Asbos should be "restricted to serious cases".Civil liberties groups have raised concerns that local authorities are using the powers of the orders as a short cut to imposing criminal punishments. An Asbo is granted as a civil power, but a breach of the order is treated as an offence punishable by up to five years in prison, or a young offenders' institution.The wide terms of the legislation mean that a magistrate can grant an Asbo by being satisfied only on a balance of probabilities that the accused's behaviour is "likely to cause alarm, harassment or distress".Groups such as the British Institute for Brain Injured Children, a charity working with young people with behavioural difficulties, say that the Government's targeting of "families from hell" could lead to the demonising of children with Asperger's syndrome or other problems.In the first year of the Asbo, 1999, only a few dozen applications were made to the courts. Blake had "terrorised" residents in Hastings, East Sussex, by smashing windows and hurling eggs and stones.The Council of Europe's human rights commissioner, Alvaro Gil-Robles, said this month that Britain's policy on antisocial behaviour was criminalising children.
